Reiatsu Xenomecha
by K.P. Grace
Summary: A new breed of Hollow resistant to the Shinigamis' zanpakuto has invaded Karakura Town.  Fortunately, a new line of defense had been made and Ichigo and a few others have been chosen to weild these weapons-the Reiatsu Xenomecha.
1. Journey to the Castle of the Titans

REIATSU XENOMECHA

**Funny enough, this idea sprang up while I was watching Gravion, Gravion Zwei, and Sousei no Aquarion. Also, listening to their respective theme and insert songs helped since whenever they play, I'd imagine Bleach characters piloting giant robots battling aliens. :P**

**The songs that inspired me to do this:**

**Nageki no Rosario (Gravion op)**

**Kurenai no Kiba (Gravion Zwei op)**

**Nageki no Rosario orchestra version (Gravion/Zwei insert)**

**Gasshin God Gravion (Combination song)**

**Ennou Gasshin Soul Gravion (Zwei combo song)**

**Sousei no Aquarion (Japanese op)**

**Genesis of Aquarion (English insert)**

**Sousei no Aquarion (Shiina Tactix version)**

**Last Impression (Gundam Wing, original and orchestra)**

**White Reflection (Gundam Wing)**

**Yeah, it's quite obvious how nutty I was about those two robot animes judging by this list.**

**~~oOo~~**

**EPISODE 1: JOURNEY TO THE CASTLE OF THE TITANS**

It has been six months since the devastating Winter War…

Six months since a rogue Soul Reaper named Sousuke Aizen, along with two others named Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen, with their army of _Arrancars _(Hollows who gained Soul Reaper powers),waged war with the Thirteen Court Guard Squads of the Soul Society for the souls of the citizens of the highly spiritually concentrated Karakura Town who had been purposely chosen and condemned to be the materials to create the King's Key—a legendary item that is said to open the way to the Spirit King's dimension.

I heard that Aizen's reason for starting such a conflict was to overthrow the Spirit King and become a god or something like that. I admit, the kid's a real genius for the way he planned it all out since the very beginning, and I don't just give away such high compliments to just anybody.

Still, despite all that elaborate planning, Aizen eventually succumbed in the hands of one _ryoka _boy named Ichigo Kurosaki, a 'Substitute Soul Reaper'.

Ichigo Kurosaki…what can I say about him? Well, if Aizen had the ingenuity, this tangerine-head kid had the spunk. A bit hot-headed on occasions, this from my point of view makes him look rather cute. Oh-ho! Don't be getting any ideas now. I'm not interested in younger guys.

I don't really have the details of how this kid managed to defeat the so-called almighty Aizen, but I heard from my secret sources that he was so charged the _reiatsu _or spiritual power, that he was practically a walking geyser of power. And anyone who had been near or had contact with him for a long period of time had started to awaken their own spiritual potentials because of him. The most obvious living proofs of the phenomena were none other that two of Ichigo's closest friends: Yasutora Sado, a.k.a Chad; and Orihime Inoue who actually managed to unlock their own powers. I guess that could be a major factor. Not to mention he had gone through Kisuke Urahara's torturous training methods. Still, I can't believe Kurosaki actually survived that kind of training.

Although all that hard work paid off in the end, it didn't come without a price. My sources told me Kurosaki lost all his powers after a large scale attack powerful to send Aizen onto his knees. Unfortunately though, the megalomaniac was still breathing even after a direct hit. _Fortunately _though, Urahara cast a very powerful custom sealing _kido _to put him away. By that, I meant sent him away. He probably kept in the deepest dungeon in Soul Soceity for all I know.

Now that I'm done reminiscing, I guess it's time I tell you about myself.

My name is Shion Tenguji. My age is nobody's business. I stand at five feet and ten inches with long golden brown hair that I usually wear in a tight bun. My eyes are a watery shade of blue, and a fair skin complexion. I usually dress in a professional manner though not afraid to loosen up every once in a while. I live in a huge Western medieval style castle in hidden in a forest far away from society, with the nearest town being at least fifteen miles away.

Based by that last part, you all have already guessed that I'm very rich or utterly loaded as you young people would say. Well, I don't mean to brag, but if you've been in business as long as I have with a wise attitude with money, you'd be just as loaded as I am.

_Crreeeaaakk…_

I stopped my musings as I heard the door slowly open. From the door I saw a good friend of mine enter. I put down the half empty cup of red tea on the table next to me.

"Welcome back, Misato," I greeted. "How have you been doing?"

My friend, Misato, adjusted her glasses before replying.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," she said. "I've been keeping watch over the potential candidates just as you asked me to. I've also managed to sneak around and gather information on the other two as well."

She handed me two folders. I picked one up and began examining the information inside.

The two of us were silent for a few seconds before Misato spoke again.

"By the way, have you begun making the necessary adjustments on the…you-know-whats?"

She sounded pretty cautious at the last word, but I didn't mind. I raised my head to look at her.

"Yes," I said, "The castle staff are even working on them now even as we speak. They should be done in a day or two. However, we're still not sure how they will take to those yet, but when the need arrives, we might have to make further adjustments here and there."

"Should I continue to watch over them?" Misato asked.

"Please do." I closed the folder and began to think. "With the necessary preparations nearing completion, all that's needed now is _them_."

Misato nodded in understanding. "I get it. Leave it to me."

I smiled and thanked her. After that, she turned and left. I gathered the folders and was just about to leave myself when I heard footsteps heading my way. I looked to the door to see a cute little face with squinty eyes peeking at me.

"Momma?" said a little voice. At the sound of it, my smile became motherly. I went over to the child and knelt down so I was on eye-level with him.

"Yes? Do you need something?" I asked as I patted his small silver haired head.

"I heard ya talkin' wit Ms. Ochi," he replied. "Are there really new people comin' over ta live wit us?"

I frowned slightly at my son's news of listening to the conversation Misato and I had moments ago. "Now, honey, you know it's not polite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations," I chided him. My son's face fell a little.

"Sorry," he said in apology, but then brightened quickly. "But it's true ain't it?"

I looked at him and my smile returned. He was being cute in order for me to curb my upsetting, and frankly, I just couldn't resist. Who could stay made at a cute face?

My son smiled. "I hope at least one a' them becomes my friend. Ev'ryone else here's jus' too busy."

I let out a sad "aww" at that last statement and wrapped my arms around him. I hate to admit it, but he was right. And since I was busy as well and there weren't other children in the castle, there wasn't anyone for him to play or spend time with when he wasn't being homeschooled or in training.

"If everything goes well, then yes, there'll be new people living with us." I told him, rubbing his back as I did. "For now, let's put our trust on Ms. Ochi."

He nodded and I let him go before he went running off. I stood up as I watched him disappear upon making a turn in the hallway. Then I went back to the table and began to peruse through the folders containing the information of two individuals named Orihime Inoue and Ichigo Kurosaki.

This is where I now leave the story to narrate itself as it isn't really about me, but rather about the youngsters who are about to get involved in yet another war—a war that might prove to be more intense than the Winter War ever was. I pray the in the end, whether we win or lose, that they would be able to forgive me for having to push another huge responsibility upon their young shoulders.

**~~oOo~~**

Ichigo Kurosaki stared out the window as the teacher droned on and on with the lesson, bored out of his mind. Six months after the war, he was finally back to normalcy. Having lost his Soul Reaper powers, he could no longer see, hear, or even sense spirits, Hollows, or Soul Reapers. Nowadays, the job of hunting down Hollows was left to Uryu, Ichigo's classmate, friend, and Karakura Town's active resident _Quincy_. Ichigo's other friends also resumed normal lives, most of which were now planning to get summer jobs when school was over. With nothing else to think of, the ex-Soul Reaper decided to jump in and find a job to save for college which was only about one year and six months away.

Another upside of his now normal life was that he managed to pull his grades up. Of course he had to work extra hard due to his many missed classes during the massive fiasco about Orihime's kidnapping and the Winter War.

Everything in his life, well for the most part since there were his sisters (particularly Karin) who could still somehow detect the presences of ghosts and his dad who's really a Soul Reaper himself, was finally normal as it supposed to be.

So…Why wasn't he content? Or happy for that matter?

"Ichigo Kurosaki!" Ms. Ochi's voice range as she threw a piece of writing chalk at the strawberry-haired teenager, hitting him on his temple and snapping him from his musing.

"Honestly, Kurosaki; if it weren't for the fact that you really are serious about keeping up your grades, I would have hit you with something bigger," said Ms. Ochi, scolding him. The class turned its attention to Ichigo as the spectacled teacher spoke. "You can daydream in your own time, but right now, all eyes and ears are on me."

"Sorry," Ichigo muttered in apology.

All of Ichigo's friends looked at him with concern in their faces. Since the war ended, Ichigo seemed to have fallen into depression and still hasn't managed to get over his stupor even though he had gotten his normal life seemingly on track.

"Ichigo," Orihime mumbled sadly. Uryu quietly adjusted his glasses as he looked in his direction. Chad and the others just looked on with equally said looks on their faces.

Ms. Ochi gave a sigh. "Alright. Moving on…For homework, read pages 140-145 and write a three page essay about the topic. You are to turn in your work the day after tomorrow. Other than that, I have an announcement."

The whole class stared at her in curiosity.

"Next week, on Monday, we'll have a class field trip in the home of one of the wealthiest people in Japan," she said.

The class nearly bugged out. Someone of such a high standing in life was actually generous enough to invite high school students over to their own home. Was Ms. Ochi serious?

"Before you all start asking, yes, I'm dead serious," said Ms. Ochi as if reading their thoughts. "I'll give out the time and place of meeting tomorrow."

As if on cue, the bell rang for dismissal. The sound of books closing, chairs moving, and feet shuffling permeated in the air as students stepped out of the classroom in droves. Ichigo and his friends were the last to leave. Ms. Ochi watched them as they disappeared out the door. When they were finally gone, she then went to stare out the window to the orange twilight sky.

"Hopefully, this will all work out as planned," the teacher muttered to herself.

**~~oOo~~**

"I can't believe we get to go to the home of one of Japan's wealthiest," said Orihime as she walked alongside her friends. "Don't you have to be just as rich or have special connections to be allowed to come over?"

"Who knows," said Tatsuki, a girl with wild unkempt hair walking next to the former. "Maybe it's the latter or maybe they owe Ms. Ochi a favor."

"Still, isn't kind of intriguing? I mean, it's like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said a short dark haired boy named Mizuiro. "Hey, does anyone have a clue on who we'll be visiting?" Everyone else in the group muttered "no" or shook their heads.

"Ms. Ochi did say she'll give us the details tomorrow. So we'll just have to wait 'til then," piped Uryu.

"I'm kind of excited! You think they'll give us advice on how to make millions?" another boy with shaggy brown hair said happily.

"I wouldn't count on that. It'll probably more like advice on deciding and managing a future career," Tatsuki replied.

"Yeah, if you're really serious on making millions, who better to ask for advice than an expert, right Mr. Asano?" said Mizuiro.

While everyone else was busy chatting about the impending field trip, Ichigo remained silent. A worried Chad quickly took notice.

"Ichigo," the tall half Mexican said in his deep tenor voice.

"Hm?" the aforementioned person grunted in response.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked. "Sorry, I know we've been asking this quite a lot. But we're getting really worried about you. You haven't been yourself lately." That was the most Chad had said in a while.

Ichigo gave him a reassuring smile, though the emotion behind it was more like uncertainty. "Yeah, I'm okay," he said, then fell silent once more.

"Ichigo," Uryu's stern voice suddenly called. The former Soul Reaper stopped walking just as his friends stopped then all turned around to face him.

"Wh-What?" he asked, confused.

"Ichigo…" Orihime began speaking in a soft caring voice. "We're friends, aren't we?" The question made him balk, now ever more confused.

"Of course we are," he said, "Why do you ask?" The orange-haired girl just gave a sad downcast look.

"You moron!" cried Tatsuki. "Isn't it obvious? Ever since the whole thing six months ago, you've been acting pretty distant and depressed. We keep asking if you're okay, but it's the same answer every time! You say you're okay, but your facial expression tells us otherwise." She took a deep breath, calming herself down. She, Keigo, and Mizuiro already knew about the outcome of the Winter War after demanding (most on Tatsuki's part) an explanation.

"The thing is, Ichigo, what we're saying is that we're your friends. So if you suddenly don't feel okay or have any problems, all you have to do is come forward and talk to any one of us," she said, her voice becoming gentle.

"She's right, you know," said Mizuiro in agreement. "It's not good to keep it all inside."

"Yeah, man. We worry about you too," said Keigo, for once not being his nearly unbearable self.

Ichigo gazed at all of them with a meaningfully guilty look on his face. "Guys…"

His lips curled into a small smile. "Thanks…I feel a little bit better now. Sorry I made you all worry. I just…I just have a lot on my mind lately."

His friends gave their own small smiles.

"Glad to hear it," said Tatsuki. "Just from now on, when something's bothering you, come see us first."

"Yeah," said Ichigo, and they resumed walking home together. A little while later, they went their separate ways.

**~~oOo~~**

"I'm home!" Ichigo announced his presence as soon as he came through the door of his house.

"IIIICCHIIIGOOO!" The loud voice of his father rang soon after that and came at him with a furious flying kick, which he sidestepped without much of a word and causing the older man to fly out the open door and crash on the steps. "You're late!" he said, as he quickly and miraculously bounced back from the humiliating defeat. The teen simply ignored him, clearly used to his antics since he had been doing it since he was young in order to "toughen up and build character" as he put it.

"Welcome back, Ichigo," his younger sister, Yuzu, greeted him from the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready soon."

"Ok," answered Ichigo, going up the stairs to his room without another word.

From her spot in the kitchen, Yuzu sadly watched her older brother disappear to the second floor of the house. His voice still carried a sad or forcibly happy tone within. She wished there was something she could do to make him happy again. However, for now, making his favorite dish was the only thing she could think of. She turned back to the pot, stirring the contents carefully.

She wasn't the only one who noticed his behavior. Karin, Ichigo's other younger sister, saw the whole thing from the living room and became just as upset as Yuzu. She, like everyone else who knew about her brother being a Soul Reaper, also knew that he lost his powers fighting some evil, megalomaniac. And like her sister, she wanted to find a way to make him feel better.

Up in his room, the former Substitute Soul Reaper set his schoolbag down on his bedroom desk lazily and laid down his bed without bothering to change out of his school uniform. He gave a tired sigh and laid his eyes on his closet, which now seemed empty now that there was no freeloading midget occupying it. Even Kon must've known that he didn't want to be bothered since he hadn't barged in to bug Ichigo like he often does.

He must be locked in Yuzu's room.

"Shit…" he cursed for making himself bring up those memories and angrily sat up and looked out the window in a vain hope that he'll be able to see anything out of the ordinary. But he quickly turned away after a few seconds. His hands went up to his face, his scowl growing deeper. He wasn't a Soul Reaper anymore. He was now normal just like everybody else, including his life. But as much as he wanted to forget everything about being a Soul Reaper, he just couldn't do so. So much had happened, so much had been experienced, it was downright impossible to think of it all to be just a big messed up dream.

Ever since he lost his powers, Ichigo couldn't help but feel a large chunk of his soul had been taken away and left him feeling like something had gone missing in his life—like a void had been created. He guessed that it must've been how Hollows felt like seeing the holes on their bodies that are usually found where their hearts used to be.

Still, life goes on…

Ichigo woke from his torpor when he heard Yuzu call him for dinner. He lazily got up to join the rest of his family downstairs before his father came in running to give him another flying kick.

**~~oOo~~**

Dinner went as it would have on any normal day. The air around the dining table was filled with chatter—mostly from both Yuzu and Goat-face, as he often called his father—about how their day went and shared some light gossip. Karin would often join in by adding witty, sarcastic comments here and there. And depending on the situation, the Kurosaki patriarch would spout some overly dramatic comments which as usual earned him a sharp hit or two from either Ichigo, Karin, or both.

"So, Ichigo, how about you?" asked the younger of the twin girls. Upon doing so, those at the table fell silent and all eyes were now on him.

"Er…" The teen fidgeted a little at the sudden attention given to him. "What about me?"

"I asked how your day went."

Ichigo raised one hand to scratch behind his head. "Oh. Well, it went smoothly. Nothing big really happened, just a typical normal day at school." He smiled, though rather sheepishly after having spoken.

"Ah, I remember. Ms. Ochi said we're gonna have a field trip on Monday, next week," he quickly added.

The last statement seemed to have sparked everyone's interest as Karin asked him, "Where to?"

"We don't know much about it yet, but she said we were going to visit the wealthiest person in Japan." Three pairs of eyes went wide.

"You're going to visit the Prime Minister?" Isshin, the Kurosaki patriarch, belted out all of a sudden, slamming his hands on the table and standing up to lean towards his only son at the other end of the table. "That's great! My son is going face to face with the most powerful man in the country. I'm so proud of y—ACK!" A bowl of rice was shoved on his face before he could jump across the table to get a hold of the boy, courtesy of Karin.

"Lay off, old man," she said with a deadpan look on her face.

"And no, we're not going to see the Prime Minister; or at least, I don't think so," said Ichigo, annoyed. "We were told that the details will come by tomorrow. Until then, I don't really have a clue." With that, he put down his empty bowl and chopsticks before standing up.

"I'm going to bed," he said as he left.

Yuzu looked on sadly as she watched her brother's retreating back, "Ichigo…"

**~~oOo~~**

The next day was just as uneventful as the other days. That was until Ms. Ochi came in and began speaking to the class about the upcoming field trip.

"Alright, class," she said. "I'm now going to elaborate more about Monday's trip, so be sure to take note so you wouldn't forget. First off, we'll be going by bus. Our destination has quite a distance so we'll have to leave early. That means you all have to go to bed early. I'll expect to see you guys at the front quad around 6 a.m."

Almost everyone in the class groaned.

"6 a.m? That's way too early!" Keigo said in complaint.

"Yeah, just how far are we going?" asked Tatsuki.

Ms. Ochi continued on, ignoring the complaints, "You'll be following the school dress code, and don't forget to bring some note paper and something to write with. You never know when something important comes up that you need to write down. Alright, that's about it. Remember, turn in to bed early. Am I clear?" The class chorused a "yes".

Uryu then raised his hand soon after. "Hold on. You haven't told us where we're going yet."

"Ah, yes, I was just getting to that," said the teacher. "Our destination will be Tenguji Castle. Has anyone heard of it?"

A babble of talk filled that air as students either said no or asked each other about whether such a place existed.

"Tenguji Castle? Can't say I've heard of such a place," said Uryu, adjusting his glasses.

"It sounds like somewhere a high ranking government official would live in," said Chad.

"Oh! So we're going to visit the Karakura Town mayor?" asked Orihime.

"Somehow, I don't think the mayor would be wealthy enough to afford living in a castle," replied Ichigo.

Ms. Ochi suddenly gave a fake cough loud enough to go over the babbling of the class, effectively silencing them and catching their attention.

"Ok," she started speaking again. "I totally understand that none of you have even heard of such a place, so let me explain. Tenguji Castle is a huge Western style castle located deep within a wood in the northeast outskirts of town. It isn't very well known since the owner likes to keep a very low profile. And no, the owner it isn't a politician. Geez, can't you guys think of anyone else?"

"Now, if there are no more questions, you are all free to go," she continued, "Just remember to sleep early the night before the trip."

**~~oOo~~**

At home, Ichigo told his family about the details of the upcoming trip. Everything went normally until he brought up Tenguji Castle. Like him and everyone else in class, his father and sisters had no idea such a place existed in the far outskirts of town. Whoever owned that castle must have done an incredibly good job at laying low enough for people to not notice their existence. He couldn't blame them though. Being the wealthiest person in the country garnered a lot of attention, both good and bad. If he were that rich, then he'd want to lay low too; if only to avoid creepy stalkers and picture hungry paparazzi.

After getting up extra early and going to school a couple days later, Ichigo saw the bus that would be taking them parked near the gate. The closer he got, he could see that there were already some of his classmates already waiting in the front quad. Among them were his friends. Even Keigo, who had complained about having to wake up really last week, was already there.

His friends gave a loud greeting at the sight of him, and Ichigo in turn, greeted back and came over to them.

"Can't say I'm glad to see you early," quipped Uryu.

"Good morning to you too," said Ichigo, used to the Quincy's occasional sarcastic tone. He then went to lean against a nearby tree, but not before noticing Tatsuki sitting on a small bench next to him. She appeared to be looking at something on a small laptop. Curious, Ichigo went to ask.

"What're you looking at over there, Tatsuki?"

The aforementioned person jerked a little upon being broken out of her concentration and turned to one who spoke.

"Hm? Oh, hey Ichigo. I almost hadn't noticed you," she said, smiling. "In case you're wondering, I was just looking up some information on Tenguji Castle. Don't you know it has its own homepage?" The dark-haired girl turned the small device to show the former Soul Reaper. "_Homepage, huh? So much for wanting to keep a low profile…"_

The others, having heard of the conversation and curious about their destination, turned to catch a sneak peek. Their eyes bugged out at the image displayed on the page before them—smack-dab in the middle of the screen was a picture of a huge fairytale reminiscent castle sitting in a large forest with small mountains around far back.

"That's Tenguji Castle?" Ichigo asked in disbelief.

"Is it really somewhere in the outskirts of town?" asked Orihime.

"I don't understand why you're all surprised. Ms. Ochi did say that it was a Western style castle last Friday," said Uryu, adjusting his glasses and closely examined the picture. "It seems that it had incorporated the architectural design of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany."

"Pretty nifty, isn't it?" Tatsuki replied. "I couldn't believe it either when I first saw it. I was expecting something more from the old eras. I tried to find the address to see if it really was really around Karakura, but all I found in the contacts were their phone number and e-mail. Then I tried to look for it in the 'About' section, but it only said that it was, and I quote, 'tucked deep in the unnamed forest northeast with Karakura Town being the closest settlement with a fifteen mile distance between them'."

"So I guess that means that it has no real address?" asked Keigo. "How do they get their mail then?"

"The owner must be some paranoid old miser. Why else would anyone that rich would want to live so far away from civilization?" said Ichigo.

"Have you gotten some information about whoever owns the castle?" asked Uryu.

"Not yet. But let's see," Tatsuki replied, clicking a link that said 'Founder' in the 'About' section. When the new page loaded, everyone who had huddled around the dark-haired girl were greatly disappointed to find out that the page was still under construction.

"Why the heck would something like that be under construction? Aren't those kind of info the first things to be made when making a website for a place like that?" an exasperated Ichigo nearly bellowed.

"Figures. Believe it or not, the site is relatively brand new," the Quincy answered for him, and earning puzzled stares from the group. "If you direct your attention to the disclaimer at the very bottom of the page, you'll see a couple of dates saying for how long the website has been around."

Tatsuki scrolled all the way down to the bottom, and just as Uryu said, there was the disclaimer typed in tiny arial font. Her eyes focused on the dates at the very end.

October – March 2010

"Strange. It says on here that the website has only been around for six months," she said.

_TWEEEEEEEEEEEETT!_

Ichigo's group and the rest of the travelling class nearly screamed at the sudden sound of a whistle being blown. All heads turned to where the offending sound came from and saw an energetic Ms. Ochi waving at them from the gate.

"Wow! It's nice to see most of you actually got out of bed early to be here at this hour," she said cheerfully. "Alright, gather 'round, I'm gonna take roll. When your name gets called, say 'Here', get on the bus, and sit wherever."

**~~oOo~~**

The bus ride was uneventful for the most part. Some students found ways to cope with the boredom that followed by chatting among themselves, fiddling with their cellphones or other handhelds they have; others slept, and the rest, like Ichigo, preferred to stare out the window and gaze at the passing scenery.

It took several minutes to get out of the Karakura Town proper. Several more to an hour was spent on the freeway. Then the next thing everyone knew, they were on bumpy unpaved ground, and the wide open scenery was replaced by trees. Although he didn't show it, Ichigo was starting to get curious and excited at the same time.

"So many trees," said Orihime in slight awe. "I didn't even know there was a forest out here."

"Ladies and gentlemen, as of this moment, we are now treading into Tenguji Castle property. The castle itself will be in sight in a moment," the bus driver said into the bus intercom.

_Almost there,_ thought Ichigo as he continued staring out the window. The trees were slowly beginning to thin out…

His return to reverie, however, was cut short when he heard some girls on the opposite side of where he was sitting (the left side) squeal in delight upon spotting a beautiful lake from the view from their window. Ten minutes later, the castle slowly became visible and could finally be seen from the front. Five more minutes later, the bus finally stops.

"Okay, we're here, kids. You may all stand up and stretch," said Ms. Ochi as the bus driver opened both the front and back doors of the vehicle. The class slowly got up from their torpor, some moaning in relief at getting to stretch their muscles.

"Finally…" Ichigo heard Tatsuki sigh when she passed by him on the way out.

**~~oOo~~**

Ms. Ochi's class stared all around in awe of their new surroundings, starting with the huge gatehouse they were currently standing in front of and the lush greenery that made up the huge courtyard to the towering castle beyond.

"Ooh, it's even bigger in person," said Orihime, gazing at the green tiled towers and turrets while shielding her eyes from the sun. Chad, who stood next to her, gave a grunt of agreement. The other's in their circle of friends followed suit.

While the teens looked at all they could see, their teacher thanked the bus driver and went to attend to them while the latter drove away. But instead of turning back to the way they came, the bus went along another road that seemed to round the perimeter of the property. Ichigo, the only one who saw it for lack of anything else to do at the moment, raised an eyebrow. _Where is it going? Is there an exit somewhere at the back? _

"Pay attention everybody," Ms. Ochi spoke. Ichigo and the rest of the class turned to her. "An escort will be coming to accompany us to the castle. I expect everyone to be on their best behavior or you'll be kicked out. To be on the safe side, I'll set up some ground rules while we're here: One, there'll be no touching of any artifacts or any other item in the castle unless allowed; Two, when our escort or host is speaking, none of you are to speak until he or she finishes; Three, no crude or snide comments; Four, no straggling or separating from the group. Doing so, will not only get you lost in the castle, but will also cost you a demerit. So, any questions?"

Nobody answered.

"Good. I'm glad we can understand each other."

"Pardon me," a smooth voice spoke from behind. The teacher turned around and found herself face to face with a nicely dressed young man.

This new person stood a few inches taller than Ms. Ochi and appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He had fair skin, a sharp angled face, strange piercing yellow eyes, and median length white hair that was fixed with fringes framing his face. He was clad in an outfit that made him look like a fancied up butler—his tailcoat was a sanguine red and had gold trimmings, the silky vest underneath was a dark forest green, both the pants and leather shoes were black, he wore white gloves on his hands, and in place of a tie was a frilly cravat with an emerald brooch fastened on it.

Ichigo stared at the strange looking man as the latter pushed his half-moon shaped glasses up the bridge of his nose in the same manner as Uryu would usually do. He didn't know why, but there was something rather off about this person. Looking over at his other friends, he could tell that they were thinking the same thing.

"Oh, hello there," Ms. Ochi greeted the man. "Are you our escort?" The man nodded.

"Yes, I am," he replied and turned his attention to the students who were casting him odd looks. Though there were some (mainly girls) who looked at him with blushing faces and soft giggles, but he paid them no mind. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hermes, the majordomo of Tenguji Castle…and we have been expecting you." The people, who had been blushing, swooned at the sound of his voice.

Ichigo couldn't help but feel a shiver down his spine when the man, now known as Hermes, spoke the last part. For a moment, he swore he saw Hermes' piercing yellow stare cast upon him when he mentioned that their arrival had been expected.

"Unfortunately, the mistress of the castle is still caught up in her work and is very busy. But I assure you that she'd be joining us later in the day," Hermes continued. "If it's alright with you, how about I take you all on a tour of the castle? That is, until the mistress arrives."

"I see," said Ms. Ochi. "Sure, we don't mind. Heaven knows these kids need to be exposed in some classic world history and culture."

Hermes nodded in agreement and motioned for everyone to follow him. "This way, please."

The sounds of several shoe-clad feet were heard as the group began to move behind the castle majordomo.

"Hey, Ichigo," whispered Keigo a moment later, nudging the tangerine-haired boy next to him while they walked. "What's a 'majordomo'?"

"Dunno. Some kind of butler or something," replied the latter.

"You're correct in a way, but actually, a majordomo is the head steward of a large household like in a palace or castle," Uryu said, joining in. "He is also the one who speaks or makes arrangements, or takes charge of things when the master or mistress of the household isn't around."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"I read a lot of classic novels with aristocratic characters in them, in case you haven't noticed."

"You mean those boring foreign language pocketbooks you carry around?"

"For your information, those books are _not _in any way boring. They're sophisticated and beautifully written works of literature," the Quincy retorted.

"Yeah, whatever…"

Uryu huffed in annoyance.

**~~oOo~~**

If the exterior of the castle was impressive, then interior was at least, three times more. They walked on a smooth marble floor littered with various designs and symbols, looking like something usually seen in a huge shopping mall or a fancy expensive hotel. The walls were adorned with various paintings and colorful tapestries. Vases, sculptures, statues, and suits of armor can also be seen lined on the walls from time to time. The class moved in a moderate pace; the only sounds permeating the air were the shuffling of people's shoes on the granite stone floor and the voice of the majordomo as he explained the various works of art around the halls. Keigo complained that the trip was starting to turn into a visit in an art museum and kept asking when they will finally meet the millionaire Ms. Ochi spoke of in class, much to the annoyance of his friends.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep within the castle, two pairs of eyes watched over the unsuspecting class on a set of monitors that were connected to a bunch of hidden cameras installed in the very hallway they walked in.

"Misato sure did a very good job bringing them here," said a mature voice that belonged to a woman.

"Oh? Ya mean all these people are gonna live wit us from now on?" asked a second more juvenile voice, this time belonged to a young child.

"No," the woman gave a chuckle, "just some of them."

"Who're they?"

The woman pointed to a monitor showing the zoomed in image of Ichigo and friends.

The child next to her giggled, "Them? They don' look much."

"Now, now, what did I say about judging a book by its cover?" the woman gently scolded. "You'll never get to know what they're really like until you've met them first. Why don't you go down and do that? And maybe have some fun along the way, too?"

The child nodded enthusiastically and replied, "Okay! I was gettin' bored in 'ere anyway." And with that, he took off running. The woman smiled as she watched him disappear from the door then turned back to the monitors showing Ichigo's bored face.

"Things are going to get interesting pretty soon," she muttered to herself. "I should be going too."

**~~oOo~~**

"Aaaaargh! When is this millionaire person gonna show up?" Keigo exasperatedly groaned, careful to keep his voice down so as to not cut off Hermes' explanation of an exact replica of Raphael's School of Athens painted on a wall.

"I'm beginning to wonder as well. It's almost noon," said Uryu who was starting to get even more annoyed with Keigo's incessant whining.

"Maybe they got swamped with work. Being a millionaire can be a busy job, you know," said Orihime.

"But still—" Keigo began, but a new voice rang in the hall they were in and effectively cutting both the brown-haired student's complaint and the white-haired majordomo's lecture.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting." Everyone stared to the left intersection of the hall where the voice and the sound of footsteps were coming from.

The footsteps then suddenly stop. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?" the voice asked.

It would have been difficult for those in the back to see but it obvious to those around front when Hermes turned and smiled at the other person.

"Not at all, milady; in fact, we have been waiting patiently for your arrival," he said with a bow. The footsteps resumed, and every teenager present nearly gasped in an odd mixture of awe, surprise, and confusion upon the sight of a woman appearing before them. From Ichigo's perspective, the woman reminded her of Soul Society's Eighth Division lieutenant, Nanao Ise, but a bit taller, with blue eyes, no glasses, golden brown bun hair, and a business suit-like attire.

"Everyone," then said Hermes who had straightened up from his bowing and gestured at the lady, "I'd like to finally introduce to you the master of Tenguji Castle: Ms. Shion Tenguji." A series of collective gasps and murmurs filled the hall.

"That's the owner of this castle?"

"No way! How did she manage to have so much money?"

"She's richer than the mayor! Heck, maybe even the Prime Minister!"

The noise continued for a few more minutes until Ms. Ochi stepped in and hollered for them to be quiet. Shion only chuckled at their reactions and reassured the teacher that it was a pretty typical reaction for anyone who hadn't known about the castle.

"You should really count yourselves lucky, kids. We usually don't invite anyone over since we'd risk the press finding this place. You're quite fortunate today because I owed your teacher a favor," said the castle master. "But before I introduce you all to the wonderful world of big business, how about some lunch? It's the least I could do for making you all wait and listen to my majordomo drone on about fine art." Hermes gave an uncertain smile at that last part. Whether he was annoyed or anything else, he didn't show it and just simply pushed his glasses up his face.

Shion then gestured for them to follow her to the dining room. As they walked, the some of the class kept glancing at the paintings displayed on the walls. Though a good number of them seemed to be replicas of Renaissance artists' works, there were also a good number of others that have never been seen before. Orihime, among those some, had her eyes shine in awe and remarked at how well the paintings were done while Mizuiro surmised that the ones who were never seen before must be originals commissioned from modern painters.

However, there was one painting that had definitely caught the busty beauty's eyes enough to make her stop in her tracks.

"Ooh," she mumbled as she stared, not minding that everyone else was leaving her behind, which is why it was a good thing that Tatsuki noticed immediately when she stopped.

"Orihime, come on or you'll be left behind," she chided. But the former didn't move. Instead, she coaxed the latter to come and look at the painting with her. Confused at how special the painting could be to garner such attention, Tatsuki complied.

The painting Orihime was staring so intently at wasn't as big as the others mounted on the walls—it was at least half as small and showed a portrait of a rather pointy-faced, squinty-eyed man. For some strange reason, she couldn't help but have a familiar feeling about this person.

"Hey, you two, what's with the hold up over there?" Uryu's voice called out to the two girls.

"Guys, check this out," replied the busty one of the two and causing her other friends to stop.

"What?"

"Just look!" Orihime gestured for them to come. Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad gave each other confused looks before finally complying out of curiosity.

"Whatever it is, Orihime, you have to make it quick or we'll be left behind."

The ashen-eyed girl stepped a little away from her previous spot to make way for the boys and pointed at the painting.

"Him," she said. "I don't know really. Maybe it's just me, but…doesn't the man in this painting look kinda like somebody we knew?"

The three boys set their eyes on the painting and stared.

"It looks like…" Chad began, but went at a loss of words.

"No way," said an astonished Uryu who adjusted his glasses to see more carefully.

"That's…" muttered Ichigo in disbelief, eyes wide in shock.

**~~oOo~~**

**OMAKE**

**XENOMECHA COMMAND CENTER**

Secretly hidden within the walls of Tenguji Castle, an automatic sliding door opens to reveal a dark room lit up by the glow of a huge monitor up front and several others around the sides. We find that we had entered into the very back and elevated part of the room. On this elevation were a lone wide chrome desk and a swivel chair. And on this chair sat a familiar person working on something on a laptop—you could hear the sound of keys being pressed in quick successions.

The person then stops typing and stretches his arms.

"Finally, I'm done," he says as he drops his arms, "Time to go back." He swivels around, and sees you standing there. It turns out the familiar person is none other than Hermes the majordomo of the castle.

"Who are you, and how did you find this place? And is that a camera?" he asks, confused and a tad flustered. "You don't appear to be part of the student touring group, and no one is supposed to know about this place until the next episode. Kindly step out and refrain from speaking about this to the outside world."

You explain that you came on a special invitation from the master of the castle.

"Special invitation? I don't recall Lady Shion sending out an invitation of any kind. Otherwise, she'd ask me to send it in her stead."

You pull out a lavender colored stationery and show it to him. Hermes takes it and examines it closely. He was silent for a few seconds before sighing.

"This is her doing alright. No other business woman, or man for that matter, would send out letters written on designed color stationeries. She must have decided to send it personally. And oh, there's a prompt in here addressed to me." He mumbles as he reads. Not long after, his eyes bug out. "What? We're doing _that_ thing now?" he asks to nobody in particular and hands you back the paper. You could tell he's rather annoyed as he ran a gloved hand through his silvery hair.

"Why couldn't she have given me a memo, or tell me while we were in the hall?" He sighs once again. "Nevermind. Fine, I'll go along with this." He presses a few keys on his laptop and an overhead picture of the castle appears. Hermes then fixes his hair until presentable, and sits straight on his chair. He clears his throat and assumes a business-like look.

"Welcome to the Command Center. I'm Hermes, the majordomo and your host for this segment. Starting today, we'll be talking about anything regarding the castle, it's inhabitants, and everything else that's left out and unable to fit in the story. Today, we'll be talking about Tenguji Castle.

Tenguji Castle was built many years ago on this very spot. Believe it or not, it started out as a simple wooden shack." An old black-and-white picture of a shabby wooden shack slides in place of the castle on the monitor. "As the years went by and as Lady Shion became more successful with her business, the shack was eventually torn down to make way for a proper house. Then again for a bigger house—then a mansion; a larger mansion; a small castle; and finally Tenguji Castle." More pictures slide in as he continues to speak until it all goes back to the castle.

"Also, as the Lady Shion's home got bigger, so did the property around it." He presses the 'Enter' button, and a map of the entire Tenguji property appears on screen. Hermes begins pointing at the locations around the castle one by one.

"The castle is in the very center of the property. On the southeast is the garage where the various vehicles are being kept and maintained. On the opposite side, a fair way off, is a man-made lake that stretches up to border northwest where the farm and stables are at; and finally, the vineyard and floral garden stand on the northeast. In its entirety, the property is about the size twice and a half of the Roman Coliseum in Italy. A dense forest and a few small mountains surround it.

The aesthetics of the castle are inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. To date, this is the only castle—not counting Cinderella's in Tokyo Disneyland—built in a Western style to exist in Japan." Hermes turns off the laptop and wipes his glasses.

"That is all we have for today. In the next episode, we'll discuss about something else. Good day to you all."

**~~oOo~~**

**I know omakes are supposed to be funny at the end, so please bear with me if I hadn't done a good job with this one. I'm not very good at producing humorous situations on purpose. Also, as you may have read, nothing much happens here. If you made it to the end and now reading this sentence, congratulations! You deserve an imaginary slice of fancy French Silk pie and an equally imaginary Collector's Edition Shirosaki action figure.**


	2. The Knights are Chosen

**REIATSU XENOMECHA**

**EPISODE TWO: THE KNIGHTS ARE CHOSEN**

**~~oOo~~**

"It looks like…"

"No way."

"That's…"

"I know right?" asked Orihime. "It not necessarily him, but the resemblance is uncanny."

The man on the painting was a striking image of none other than Gin Ichimaru—a _shinigami_ or soul reaper who went rogue along with two others named Sousuke Aizen and Tousen Kaname and waged war against Soul Society, or the Afterlife. Late in the war, Gin betrayed Aizen for as it turned out, he did what he did all for the sake of his close childhood friend, Rangiku Matsumoto. Having been so badly wounded by Aizen, he slowly died in Rangiku's arms as he entrusted Aizen's defeat to Ichigo.

However, the man in the painting was not Gin despite the close facial resemblance—he had long black hair tied in a lose ponytail and hung around one shoulder. His skin was a healthy peach color unlike the deceased soul reaper's nearly sheet white; and his narrow fox-like eyes were open, showing green irises.

"Orihime's right. This guy looks like he could pass for Ichimaru," said Uryu, "or a close relative even."

"That's…kinda freakish," said Chad.

"Yeah, talk about a weird coincidence," agreed Ichigo. "Say, you guys think that if Ichimaru somehow got reincarnated, this guy would be his dad?"

"It's possible," Tatsuki answered. All the others agreed.

"But wouldn't that make Ms. Tenguji his mom?" Orihime asked once again.

"That's another possibility. If there's a lady of the castle, then there should be a lord somewhere," Uryu answered for her.

"You're very smart," a small voice suddenly spoke up, nearly startling the group who began to look around for the source, and nearly jumped upon finding it.

Standing near them was a child; and not just any child, but one looked _exactly_ like Ichimaru.

The group fell in astonished silence. Only Uryu had the voice to mutter "What on earth?" at the sight.

Little Gin Ichimaru looked no more than seven to eight years old and was dressed like a British schoolboy. Like his deceased counterpart, his narrow fox-like eyes were bright with mischief and had that ever present wide smile. "Yup, that guy's my daddy," he said, referring to the painting the teens had been staring at.

"What's wrong? Somethin' on my face?" asked the little boy a while later when the silence started to feel awkward.

"Uh…" was all the teens could say as they stared at him.

A few more seconds of silence passed until Ichigo found his voice and took the initiative to ask the child.

"Uh, h-hey kid," he began, "What're you doing around here?"

Gin turned his sight on him and raised a brow. "Wha' do ya mean? I live here."

"That makes sense…I guess," said Chad after getting over his own shock. The rest began to calm down and regain composure as well. Uryu though, was still unsure of the child's identity.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked.

"Me? I'm Gin. Nice to meet ya!" answered the child.

The group of teens gave each other meaningful looks at the revelation. They then began to huddle and whisper at each other to Gin's slight confusion.

"You think it's the real deal?" asked Ichigo.

"Probably. I didn't realize it at first, but it's obvious that he reincarnated. He most likely doesn't remember anything from being a rogue soul reaper," said Uryu.

Orihime took a turn to ask, "So are you saying we just play it cool, Uryu?"

"Yeah, well, it's not like he could hurt anyone anymore."

"Guys, I hate to butt in this conference, but we have to back to the rest of the class," Tatsuki piped in. "Sooner or later, they'll realize were gone and might go looking for us. And I don't feel like getting a demerit anytime soon, if not, at all."

"She's right. We've been gone for a while now," said Chad in agreement.

"What're ya'll talkin' 'bout over there?" Gin asked over their voices. The teens broke their huddle, muttering a chorus of "Nothing" and smiling sheepishly.

"Nice to meet you too, Gin. I'm Ichigo," said the one with spiky orange hair, feeling rather awkward upon introducing himself to somebody he knew before. He then began to introduce his other friends one by one.

"Listen, we'd like to stick around, but we really have to get back to our group," he then told Gin. "It was nice meeting you though." Little Gin's smile turned upside down and into a pout as he watched Ichigo gather his friends and turned to leave. He had finally gotten to meet the would-be new additions to the castle (along with a few extras) and wanted to get to know them. He didn't care that they weren't his age; in fact, they were the closest ones who are who, in turn, aren't (or won't be) too busy working in and around the castle to spend a little time with him. He wasn't going to let them go so easily.

His smile returned, looking more mischievous as he quickly hatched a plan.

**~~oOo~~**

The group of teenage high schoolers had only gone about three feet from the little boy when Ichigo, who had been walking behind the rest, felt something bump and catch him from behind.

"H-Hey!" he cried in surprise, causing the others to stop on their tracks and turn to see what the commotion was, only to see that Gin had moved and now had his small arms around Ichigo's waist. Ichigo, on the other hand, was trying his best to pull the kid off him.

"Gin, get off!"

"I'm bored. Play wit me," said Gin, refusing to budge despite the former soul reaper's protests.

"Look, I'm sorry, but now's a really bad time!" Ichigo tried to negotiate while he tried to pry the child's fingers loose. "Quit laughing!" he cried once more to his friends who were finding the scene before them quite amusing.

"Looks like he's gotten attached to you, Ichigo," Tatsuki chuckled. "Literally."

"Not funny, Tatsuki," Ichigo grumbled. He turned back to Gin. "I'm serious, kid. We really can't. If we don't get back to the class soon, we'll get in trouble."

"Not to mention we probably missed lunch. Oh, I wish I brought mine," whined Orihime.

"Play wit me," Gin insisted, still not letting go.

"I can't, okay? Now let go!"

"Ichigo, be careful with him. If he's really Ms. Tenguji's son, we could get in trouble if we hurt him," Chad gently warned when he saw his longtime friend's efforts become desperate.

"Don't you think I know that?"

Gin ignored their conversation in favor of holding on to the strawberry-haired teenager and hoping he will finally concede. However, he couldn't help but notice something hanging from the older boy's backpocket. It appeared to be a thick woven band of some sort. Curious, took in his hand and pulled.

Hanging from the end of the band was a big pentagonal charm or badge of some kind with a weird picture of a skull on its center. It was old judging by the small chips and scratches on the surface. It was bigger than his own hand.

"Wha's this?" he asked as he held the item to his face.

Ichigo quickly turned around and saw Gin holding and examining his (now obsolete) Substitute Soul Reaper badge.

"Hey! Give that back!" He twisted his body out of the child's grip and reached for the badge, but was denied when Gin pulled it out of reach. He tried again, only to fall on his face when Gin jumped out of the way. It didn't take long for the exchange to turn into a game of Keep Away—with the odds appearing to be in the younger boy's favor.

"For a little kid, he sure does have excellent reflexes," said Uryu. The others nodded in agreement.

"Oh, for crying out loud…" Ichigo, now clearly frustrated, lunged for his badge in a last ditch attempt and failing miserably. Gin smiled even wider now that he was getting what he wanted.

"I migh' give it back if ya tell me wha' this is," said the boy playfully, dangling the badge in his raised hand.

"You wouldn't understand even if I did," Ichigo retorted as he got back to his feet. "Now, give it." He reached for the badge one last time before Gin giggled and quickly took off running.

"Hey! Come back here!" he cried and went running after the kid, to the others' surprise.

"What the—! Ichigo!" cried Tatsuki, following after the ex-soul reaper along with the rest.

**~~oOo~~**

Shion led the class into a huge and magnificent dining hall. The touring class marveled at the size and how regal it was with all the additional paintings and stain glass windows, and even more so by the dark and resplendent mahogany dining table and chairs long and plenty enough, respectively, to seat fifty people. Plates, glassware, and silverware have already been set up on placemats along with napkins. The class watched as a small group of butlers and maids pacing back and forth through another door a little far off, which they suspected to be the kitchen, and put down plates of food and bottles and pitchers of drink onto the table quickly and carefully so that neither any crumb fell out of place, nor any drink spilled a single drop onto the clean white satin tablecloth.

"Wow…" said Keigo in amazement, his vision sparkling. "Do we really get to eat gourmet food in a really fancy dining room in a castle?"

"It appears so, Mr. Asano," replied Mizuiro, smiling at other boy's reaction.

"Oh, I can't wait! For the first and probably the only time in my life, I'll literally get a taste of what being someone from the upperclass is like!" Keigo threw his arms up in delight.

"My, aren't _you_ ecstatic. I never thought the sight of food could do that." Mizuiro nearly jumped when the former suddenly held on to his shoulders.

"How could anyone _not_ get excited by this setting? Just look at it. A good number of dishes here that could only be seen in magazines and on television are sitting right in front of us just waiting to be eaten. We'd probably never get another chance like this ever again in our lives!" In his over-the-top excitement, the brown-haired boy failed to notice that he was squeezing the other's shoulders a little too tightly.

"Th-That's good to hear, Mr. Asano. But…" It then started to get painful. "Would you mind not squeezing too hard? You're starting to cut off my blood circulation in that area."

Keigo then realized what he was doing and released his shoulders immediately.

A loud tinkling noise suddenly caught everyone's attention. Everyone turned and saw Shion with an arm raised and ringing a small handbell, stopping once all eyes were on her.

"I thank you for your patience," she announced. "Now, why don't we all take a seat and dig in?" Taking it as the signal, the class began to move and the room was soon filled with the echoing sounds of chattering and metal making contact with porcelain.

Keigo had already filled his plate and began stuffing his face. Mizuiro, the more well-mannered of the two, ate slowly and neatly.

"Wow, I can't believe this is beef! The meat is so soft and tender, my knife cut through it like butter. Is this from Kobe?" he remarked after taking a bite of his steak. Hermes, who happened to be passing by, overheard him.

"Thank you for your comment. And the beef is actually from Mishima," he said, "much rarer than Kobe."

"Ooh," the dark-haired boy sighed in awe. If what the majordomo of the castle was saying was the truth, then the meat in front of him must be incredibly high-end.

"Wait, Mr. Hermes, aren't _you_ going to have lunch with us?" he asked again, wondering why Hermes hadn't joined them.

The elder man pushed his glasses up on his face in a way that reminded the younger of a certain Quincy. "As with being a serving member of the castle, I have many duties that need attending to. From here on out, Lady Shion will be the one to accompany you. Good day." With that, Hermes continued on forward, but suddenly stopped when loud very exasperated voices erupted from the kitchen, causing everyone to stop and watch Hermes hurry towards the source of the disturbance.

At that very moment, something just clicked into Keigo's mind as Hermes' angry voice echoed from the kitchen.

"Hey, where's Ichigo?" he asked, looking around. "and Chad, Uryu, and Orihime?"

"Now that you mentioned it, Tatsuki's missing too," said Mizuiro.

"What?"

"They must've gotten lost along the way."

Keigo started to get frantic. "Oh no! Poor Ichigo and the others! They must've found a hidden passageway and went in it out of curiosity and now they can't find their way back!"

The shorter boy gave him a confused look. "How did you come up with that idea?"

"Duh! We're in a huge castle! Everyone knows huge castles have secret passageways!"

"You've been watching too many movies, Mr. Asano."

**~~oOo~~**

"Get back here, you little brat!" Ichigo shouted as he chased Gin down the hallway with his friends behind him.

"Kurosaki-kun, please slow down!" Orihime called after him.

"Honestly, why do you even still carry that thing with you anyway?" asked Uryu who was very much annoyed.

"I'm so gonna get you when we get found out!" cried an angry Tatsuki.

The chase went for what felt like ages. For such a small child, Gin ran like a professional athlete. It took a lot of effort on Ichigo's part just to keep up. They also weren't limited to the hallways—Ichigo even had to chase Gin through several rooms, effectively startling any castle personnel inside. Not even the kitchen was spared as they ran and nearly collided with the people working there.

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

"Little master!"

"Who the heck are you people?"

"Watch where you're stepping!"

"We're working here!"

Ichigo ignored the angry shouts in his continued pursuit, leaving his friends to apologize for him. He then spotted Gin going through a backdoor at the far end of the room and quickly went after him.

No one realized how loud they were being until Hermes angrily came in from the dining room.

"What is going on in here?" he nearly bellowed. "Don't any of you remember that we have guests?" The kitchen staff bowed their heads in apology.

"We're very sorry, sir," explained one of the chefs. "A group of teenagers barged in all of a sudden and disrupted the peace."

"Teenagers?"

"Yes, sir. For some reason, they appeared to be chasing the little master."

Hermes was contemplative for a moment. _So they already met Gin. _"Which way did they go?"

Everyone pointed to the backdoor. "Over there, sir," answered a maid. Hermes nodded in understanding.

"I see. Carry on then." He turned and left, but stopped short at the door and did his habitual quirk. _Things are progressing faster than I thought._

"I need to get going," he mumbled to himself before going on his way.

**~~oOo~~**

Karakura Town—very peaceful for the most part; it looks like any other normal urban city. However, it sits on a point in the World of the Living where the concentration of spiritual energy and activity is high. Because of this a fair number of its citizens become aware of the supernatural forces that both live and invade the town. Though only a few are powerful enough to defend themselves and others from any malevolent forces that dare disturb the peace.

Today, and probably on the days that will follow, things are going to be different.

A distortion appears on the seemingly peaceful blue sky above the town. It's as if a strange force pinched and pulled the sky downwards like rubber. It then pulled back in place, but only for a second as a long horizontal black slit appeared, followed by a series of vertical ones thus making the sky look like it had strips cut on.

Some rather spiritually aware citizens took notice and stopped to look out of curiosity; then with awe when the distortion slowly began to open like a huge mouth, revealing a dark void inside. By this time more people stopped to look at the same direction upon seeing these strange individuals to see what was going on, and their eyes widened in fear as a glowing pair of red eyes appeared from within the void, looking down at the humans below. Surprisingly enough, more people seem to be becoming aware of the strange foreign presence and stopped at whatever they were doing to stare up at it, muttering between themselves.

"What is that?"

"Is that an alien?"

"Looks like a wacky commercial tactic."

As the people babbled on, the creature in the void pushed out a dark, bony, clawed hand and held onto the edge of the void. People watched as it started to push the rest of itself out. Eyes that had been fearful before were now even more fearful at the sight of a large crocodilian skull-like face with red eyes rows of sharp teeth longer than a grown human's body, and a lanky bipedal body structure with tight, leathery, inky black skin. Large pieces of bone on several places of its body made it seem like it was wearing armor. Its arms and legs were long, and each of its hands and feet had four fingers and toes each. The tail was long and thick, and the sharp long spikes near the tip made it even more deadly looking. Finally, at the center of its chest, in between the open rib bones that served as the creature's breastplate, was a large red sphere.

There were a couple of loud booms and the ground shook twice as a pair of huge monstrous feet stepped onto the street and crushing several small buildings, cars, and people who were unfortunate enough to be underneath. The townspeople scream and run upon the realizing that the sixty-foot tall monster was very real. The screams get louder as it let out a bellowing roar enough to send shockwaves that threw everything off the ground.

**~~oOo~~**

A strange yet awkward silence filled the entire castle as all activity seemed to have halted so suddenly. Most of its residents stood staring out the window as if waiting for something, with expressions varying from uneasiness to anxiety. Their bodies tense and their senses alert.

Even the students in the dining room were feeling confused and nervous. Their hushed voices as they whispered to one another were all talking about the same thing—a loud otherworldy roaring and a mighty gust of wind strong enough to slam open the locked windows and force its way into the room.

"Wh-What the heck was that?" asked Mizuiro, who managed to remain calm through it all. Keigo, on the other hand, couldn't stop shaking in his seat. "Mr. Asano? Are you okay?"

The other didn't answer. He just continued to hold his arms around himself and stared out the window, looking scared out of his wits.

"D-D-Did y-you feel that?" asked the brown-haired boy. "It's…It's just like six months ago…but worse." His memories flashed to a tall sinister man in white with a sword that exuded a dreadful and murderous intent as he went after and almost killed them.

Mizuiro, too, remembers it well.

At the head of the table, Shion stood up looking apprehensive out the same window as Keigo. _I can't believe it actually appeared. And now of all times…We'll have to step up quicker,_ she thought, looking down towards Ms. Ochi who had been sitting on her right hand side with the same serious expression on her face as she had and nodded her head in understanding.

"Alright! Who's up for a little T.V. time?" she asked, quickly turning her demeanor around to a more cheerful one. The class immediately turned their sight on her at the mention of 'T.V.'

"You have a T.V. in here, Ms. Tenguji?" asked one.

"Of course, I do! What super rich person doesn't? Heheh…okay." She went over to a nearby decorative table, pulled open the drawer and took out what many guessed to be a remote. Then for some reason, she aimed at a large painting and pressed a button. A whirring noise came and the class watched as the canvas rolled and disappeared behind the wide ornate frame to uncover the seventy-two inch flatscreen embedded in the wall. Shion took out another remote and turned it on.

The T.V. was set to a local channel when it slowly came to life, but was suddenly cut off.

"_We interrupt this program for a breaking news story: Just when we all thought that Godzilla was just a legendary fictional monster movie (emphasis on 'fiction'), a huge monster has been spotted right here in Karakura Town," _said the reporter. _"We now go live to Minoru Tarada. Minoru?" _The station then switched to the live camera. Behind the reporter everyone could see debris scattered on the street, broken buildings (some of which were even on fire), and people running in panic. Military tanks and jet fighters could also be seen trying to combat the monster while police try to round up and evacuate people from the devastated area.

"_Thank you, Katsuro. Right now I'm standing in a safe zone near the Sakurabashi district border where the giant reptilian monster is currently terrorizing the heart of said district. Witnesses report that there was a gargantuan hole that appeared in the sky a few minutes before the monster emerged from said hole and began destroying everything in its path. And that's not all folks—if you look behind me, you'll see said monster _eating _the buildings—which, according to witnesses, it had been actually doing since it arrived. It was also said to have picked up and eaten cars, trucks, lampposts, electric posts, trees, and even people. So far, even with the newly arrived military, the efforts to drive away the monster had been futile." _

Ms. Ochi's class watched in horror as the live camera showed a jet fighter fired missiles at the monster, only for it to inflict no damage and get grabbed out of the sky by its huge claws and pulled into its gaping maw.

"Oh man! Is that really happening?" asked Keigo as everyone else save for Mizuiro and the only two adults began talking with worried voices. _It looks just like those monsters with skull masks on them, but a lot bigger. But now that I think about it, those things have been running around all over town but the news hasn't made any reports about them until that one. What gives, man?_

"Relax, isn't it obvious that it's just some movie advert. C'mon guys, there're no such things as monsters," said a rather cocky classmate.

"I dunno, man. Those reporters sounded really serious, and I don't think that loud roaring from earlier was fake either," said another nervously. "I mean, anyone who'd cause a commotion like that on purpose just to get attention would be really sick in the head."

Amidst the babbling, Shion looked to Ochi, deciding that it was time to make a move.

"Ms. Ochi, I'm afraid that I'll have to continue with your class later. An urgent matter had come to my attention and I have to deal with it as soon as possible," she said, while it was the truth for the most part, it was more of an excuse to dismiss herself from the table without rousing any suspicion. Quickly catching on, Ochi replied, "That's alright. As a very wealthy businesswoman, you must have a tight schedule. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do. Don't worry; I'll make sure to keep the kids in line."

"Thank you." Shion turned and left the dining room while Ochi went up to calm the class down.

**~~oOo~~**

After the brief kitchen fiasco, it was back to the hallways with Ichigo and company. Unfortunately, the ex-soul reaper was still far from catching the castle's so-called 'Little Master'. Cursing himself, he willed to go faster despite his aching legs. "Doesn't this kid ever get tired?" he asked himself.

"Doesn't Ichigo ever get tired?" asked Tatsuki as she was starting to run out of breath. However, she wasn't the only one.

"I'm getting tired," complained Orihime, who wasn't usually the type to do so.

"We can't stop now. We'll lose him," said Uryu.

"But…eep!" Orihime felt something grab her and lift her off the floor and hold her in a bridal fashion. Once she got settled, she looked up and it turned out that Chad was the one who carried her. "Chad?"

"Don't worry," he said, "I'll be fine."

The runners all kept to the halls until they heard the sound of a door slamming nearby. It sounded like Gin had gone into yet another room.

"This time, I'll get you for sure," said Ichigo, opening the first door he saw and entered; the others close by.

The new room was a lounging area. It had a couch, armchairs, and a couple of loveseats arranged in a semi-circle in front of a large flatscreen standing in the oversized slot of a large shelf (with the other smaller slots filled with decorative items). A few beanbag chairs have been put a little ways before the seats.

The first thing the gang noticed was that the T.V. was on and was showing a live report about some monster appearing in a district in town. The second thing was that Gin _Chibimaru_ (Ichigo's nickname for him) was sitting on the couch watching.

"Aha!" the tangerine-haired teen yelled, catching the child's attention. "I've finally caught up with you," he said whilst panting. "You'd better cooperate this time, considering I had managed to run after you all the way here. Now, where's my badge."

Instead of complying, Gin put a finger on his lips and told Ichigo to hush. "Pay attention," he then said and turned back to the T.V.

"Huh?" Everyone turned their attention to the program shown, and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the news report of a giant monster rampaging in a city district.

"Is that…a Hollow?" asked Orihime.

"It sure does look like one…and it's way taller than a Gillian," Uryu replied. "I don't think we've seen anything like that before."

"I dunno. Looks passable for a monster movie ad," Tatsuki suggested, quite unsure.

Ichigo didn't understand what the child was trying to point out. In his frustration, he asked, "Hey, Chibimaru. What the hell are you trying to pull? Is this to distract me or something?"

Gin, ignoring the nickname, didn't turn from the program, but responded anyway. "Are ya dumb, berry head?" he asked, his tone clearly conveying annoyance in his part. "Didn't any of ya feel anythin' strange earlier while chasin' little ol' me?" The teens present gave each other puzzled looks at the question.

"Felt something? I don't know about that. I was too busy trying to keep up with Ichigo," said Tatsuki.

"Now that he mentioned it, I think I _did_ feel something," said Uryu. "It felt like the air got a little cold. At first I thought it was the air conditioning until I realized we were in a hallway."

"Yeah, and it got a bit heavy, like the gravity increased," Orihime followed. "I think the air got heavy too because I started to short of breath."

_What do you expect when you try to keep up with a little marathon runner?_ Ichigo thought as the other finished, glaring daggers at mini copy of a rouge reaper.

"I suddenly felt like something heavy was pressing down on me," said Chad. "Could it possible for it to be spiritual pressure?" They began to put two and two together and gasped at the answer. They turned back to the T.V. and watched as the monster, now officially dubbed a Hollow, eat anything and everything it could get its clutches on including a poor jet fighter that tried to hurt it with missiles.

"But, I don't get it. If that's really a Hollow, how come everyone can see it?" asked a greatly bewildered Ichigo. "Aren't they supposed to be invisible to the spiritually unaware, or am I missing something here?"

"He's right. Otherwise, it wouldn't be caught live on camera, and the military wouldn't be there attacking it," Chad said in agreement.

"Unbelievable," Uryu followed. _Indeed. I don't even the Soul Society has seen anything like this before. It doesn't seem picky about food from the way it just takes a bite out of anything. This could very well be a new kind of Hollow altogether. Truly bizarre. I wonder if Urahara would know something about this._

"And by the way, what is the hell is this about? It's about time you start explaining, kid," said Ichigo, who was running out of patience.

Gin turned off the T.V. and got off the couch. The teens watched cautiously as he went over to another smaller shelf at the back and pressed a hand on a snowglobe. The spherical part of the snowglobe sank a little on its pedestal, and the teens' amazement and confusion, part of the wall sank to the floor—a hidden passage. Once that was done, the little master of the castle turned to them, wearing his signature wide smile.

"In case y'all were too busy ta pay any good attention ta th' news, th' reporter person said th' monster's in Sakurabashi district," he said before disappearing into the passage.

The gang just stood still, confused as ever.

"Sakurabashi?" Ichigo muttered to himself. A moment later, a thought hit him like a flying brick.

"Karin and Yuzu!" he cried. "Their primary school is in Sakurabashi district!"

"What?" the others chorused in alarm.

"I gotta get out there and save them!" The tangerine head started to move, but Uryu grabbed his arm to hold him back.

"Don't be stupid, Kurosaki. We're fifteen miles away from town; you won't be able to get there quickly unless you know how to drive. And even with the combined powers of Chad, Orihime, and I, I don't think it'll be even enough to take it down," he said.

"But, Uryu—"

"He's right, Ichigo. Besides, the police and the military are there to help. I'm sure the primary school already got evacuated," Tatsuki assured him. But despite the attempt to calm him down, Ichigo just became more upset.

He quickly turned to her, "Didn't you see the news? The military tried to take that thing out with missiles, yet it didn't get even a scratch! Worse, the jet that fired it got eaten!" he ranted, stunning everyone around him. "You know why is that? It's because it's a freaking _Hollow!_ Visible or not, there's no way conventional weapons could kill it! And you've seen how it eats practically _anything, _including people! While I think it's weird, if that thing isn't stopped, how long do you think it'll take for it to eat the entire town before moving on to the rest of the country? And the world?"

_SLAP!_

"Tatsuki!" came Orihime's yell.

Ichigo staggered a bit when Tatsuki slapped him hard on the cheek. He brought his hand up to the left side of his face and stared at a very angry Tatsuki.

"Don't you think I know that?" she bellowed at him. "I'm just as worried as you are—as with everyone in this room! But let me ask you something, Ichigo: If you really were to go out and face the giant, just how are you going to do it? You lost your powers, remember?"

The boy's shoulders went slack. She had a really good point. Going over to the giant Hollow would be suicidal now that he's not a soul reaper anymore. But he didn't want to just stand around and hide without trying. Ichigo gazed at the now closed wall where Gin had gone into. He remembered the way the little master spoke of the Hollow's location from the news. The way he said it sounded a bit…cryptic. Like he was egging him on to try and find him for answers. Does that mean that he knew something? Come to think of it, Gin didn't look a wee bit curious as to what the monster on the T.V. was nor he was scared of it like a typical child his age would. It was like he already knew that the monster was indeed a Hollow. He shook his head. All that thinking was making his head spin.

He decided to relent and give in to whatever Gin wanted and went over to press the snowglobe. The wall opened once more.

"Ichigo?" asked Chad as he and the others gaped at him.

"I don't know if you know, guys. But I think Chibimaru might be up to something," said Ichigo, looking serious. "I think he might have made us chase him all the way here for a different reason other than sheer boredom."

"What are you talking about?" asked Uryu.

"He hasn't given my Substitute Soul Reaper badge back." Ichigo immediately ran off into the hidden passage after that.

"Hey, that didn't make sense!" The Quincy sighed in annoyance. "Here we go again," he muttered as he and the rest of the gang once more ran after him.

**~~oOo~~**

From a place called the Soul Society, a few captains, along with a few lieutenants and seated officers, stood atop the untouched buildings after coming out of the Senkai Gate. They came to Karakura Town by order of their Captain Commander to investigate a massive source of _reiatsu _that appeared. None of them could believe their eyes at the sight that welcomed them.

"This place look like the apocalypse hit it," said Lt. Renji Abarai of the Sixth. "Man, I've never seen so much damage."

"And there's the one that caused it," his captain, Byakuya points out directly ahead. The aforementioned culprit was hunched over, chewing on a broken piece of a tall apartment building while being fired at by surrounding military tanks.

Upon noticing the tanks, Tenth Division Captain Hitsugaya couldn't help but ask: "The spiritual energy oozing from the giant monster is clearly that of a Hollow. But, how is it that the humans are able to see it clearly? I doubt those people are all spiritually aware."

"Does it really matter? I just wanna know how strong it is," stated Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of the Eleventh, flashing a wide menacing smile. "That's the biggest Hollow I've ever seen. I have a feeling that I'm really gonna enjoy every moment fighting it." His lieutenant, a little girl named Yachiru, cheered at his enthusiasm while perched on his shoulder. In his excitement, he let his own spiritual power slowly seep through.

He wasn't the only one excited though.

"My, you sure are pumped up," commented Fifth Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa. "I don't blame you. It's been a while."

"Heh, Just make sure to save some for me, Captain," said a grinning Ikkaku Madarame—Third Seat.

"Get a hold of yourselves, Squad Eleven. We came here only to investigate," chided Squad Two Leader, Soi Fon. "Zaraki, contain your spiritual pressure, or you're going to risk catching its—" A loud roar came. "Crap…"

The huge Hollow stopped munching on a power grid and a large truck and turned to the soul reapers' direction when it felt trickles of concentrated _reishi_ or spiritual energy coming from behind.

"Ah, you finally noticed us," said Kenpachi. "Good."

"Are you going to play now, Kenny?" asked his little lieutenant.

"Count on it," he answered, smirking wider than often.

"Zaraki, the Head Captain made it clear that we are to _not_ engage in battle whenever possible," said Byakuya.

"Tch! From the way it's looking at us, I'd say it's too late."

SLAM!

Kenpachi, Yumichika, and Ikkaku jumped away at a nick of time when all of a sudden, the Hollow slammed one massive hand on the building they stood on in an attempt to catch them. The tall spiky haired captain laughed.

"See, it clearly wants to tussle!"

Renji couldn't believe his eyes. One moment, the giant Hollow was only several feet away; but then it quickly got close to try and grab Captain Zaraki!

"No way! That monster's huge, but it moved so fast," he exclaimed. "If Squad Eleven stayed even a second later…"

Toshiro brandished his _zanpakuto _and went into a stance. "It looks like we have no other choice but to fight." The other soul reapers agreed and drew out theirs as well.

"Let's go," said Byakuya, signaling the start of battle.

**~~oOo~~**

The hidden passageway was very dim and narrow. The only sources of light are the torches that hung from the wall, giving it a creepy medieval vibe. Uryu gave a guess that they might be going deep underground. And although they had to run through halls a good part of time, they had to be extra careful once they came across a stairway due to the poor lighting.

"Hmm…This doesn't look good. Our candidates brought in some extra baggage," said the calm voice of Hermes as he watched the group of five teenagers in the monitor room running in the dark hall through a series of expertly hidden cameras. "I'm afraid your plan to separate them didn't work, Little Master."

Little Gin Ichimaru-Tenguji gave a huff and crossed his arms while leaning back into the chair he sat on. "I already know tha', geez," he said, pouting.

"What should we do then? We're running out of time."

Gin scoffed. "Ya worry too much, Hermes." He jumped down from his seat and went closer to the monitors. He then climbed on to another seat and examined the control panel just below the screens. "I'll just have 'em play a round of tic-tac-toe wit me." He went to the touchscreen portion of the controls showing the architectural layout of the castle underground. Parts of it were lit, indicating the location and paths the gang took and continued to do so as they kept moving. A moving red blip represented the teens themselves. Gin touched an unlit part of the hall the gang was at and 'redirected' the path towards a lone room that was previously disconnected from the rest of the map.

"There, problem solved," he said, spinning Ichigo's badge by the strap with his finger. "Now they can play wit me again."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Hermes, still unsure about his little boss' method. "It looks a tad time-consuming. The beast has already consumed a good part of the district it landed in. And we both know that despite the soul reapers already out there, their efforts might not be enough, if not, for naught."

Gin didn't say anything. If he really heard the elder man, he certainly didn't show it as he just sat watching the red blip turn to the new path he made after tweaking the hall a bit.

"Should I…Should I have _them_ deployed, little master?"

There was a pregnant silence before Hermes got his answer.

"Later," Gin muttered. "When Ichigo and boobie-girl get sent out first."

The majordomo balked at the name the child gave Orihime. "Gin Ichimaru-Tenguji, please watch your tongue!" he scolded, but Gin ignored him.

"It won' do any good if we send _them_ out first," he continued, "Well, maybe boobie-lady maid wouldn' mind stallin' and observin', but scary wild-hair man migh' get angry when he finds out he won' be gettin' any action—in his first mission no less. Then again, even if we send him out later, he'll be angry anyway."

Hermes sighed at his little boss' tactlessness. If the situation was less dire, he wouldn't have let it slide.

"Besides," Gin went on, "Those soul reapers out there already have our work cut out fer us since they're already doin' a great job stallin' that thing."

Hermes came at a loss, he tried to speak but stopped before letting a sound out. He then decided not to argue.

"Now, let's watch." The two occupants of the monitor room resumed watching Ichigo and friends.

**~~oOo~~**

"What the heck…" Ichigo muttered when he and his friends ended up in a strange small room. Aside from the torches that gave off light, it was completely void of any furniture or knick-knacks or any kind; and occupying nearly every inch of the floor was a huge 3x3 box grid.

Another strange thing about the room was the lack of Gin's presence.

"Where's Gin?" asked Orihime, voicing Ichigo's question out loud.

"It doesn't make any sense. The path was straightforward and empty. There's no way we could have lost him," stated Tatsuki.

The teens were too busy trying to understand their current situation that they nearly jumped when they heard an echoing giggle and felt floor rumbling a little.

"Guys, the door!" Uryu cried almost immediately. Everyone whipped around and gasped when they saw their only entry and exit being sealed. They tried to run and get through to avoid being trapped in the room, but by the time they got close enough, it was too late.

"HEY!" Ichigo yelled, pounding his fists at a part of the wall where the opening used to be. The giggling continued. "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, GIN? ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'LL MAKE SURE TO WIPE THAT SMILE OUT OF YOUR FACE!"

"Ichigo, I know this might be a bad time but, calm down!" Uryu rebuked him. "For crying out loud, you're talking to a kid. And not just any kid—it's the castle owner's _son._"

Orihime watched with worry as her once-crush considered the Quincy's words and sigh in defeat. "Kurosaki-kun…"

"Dammit!" cursed Ichigo. "When I defeated Aizen and lost my powers, I thought I was finally done with all this strange and bizarre crap. Why the hell is this happening to me now?"

"Aww, don't feel so bad," Gin's voice echoed in the room, sounding as if coming from a PA system. "Ya wanna save yer sisters from the monster, right?"

"Wait, how do you know I have sisters?" Instead of getting an answer, metal bars abruptly sprang from the floor, breaking through the stone around Ichigo's friends; save for Orihime who got pushed by Tatsuki quickly enough and fell onto her knees near Ichigo. The bars kept rising rapidly until they hit the ceiling, creating a cage.

"Tatsuki!" Orihime cried.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" asked and angry Tatsuki, "What the hell are you planning?" _Now I'm starting to get how Ichigo feels._

"I can probably get us out of this," said Chad, transforming his arms.

"Wait Chad. He probably can see us through a hidden camera somewhere. I wouldn't want to risk being seen," said Uryu.

"Somehow, I don't think it matters," said Tatsuki.

Chad slowly began to reach for the bars.

"I wouldn' do tha' if I was ya," Gin's voice said. "Those bars 'r charged wit electricity. If ya touch 'em, y'all get shocked." At this, the three inside the cage quickly moved back towards the center. "And if ya somehow manage to break outta tha' anyway, the walls of this room 'r made with _sekkisekki_, so ya can't bust yer way out with yer powers."

Now _that_ was a real shocker for everyone.

"H-How…How does he know we have…" Orihime couldn't bring herself to finish.

Gin's giggling went on. "Ya know, if ya really want ta save yer friends and get outta here, all ya have ta do is play wit me."

Ichigo's patience was at its limit. "We don't have time for your stupid games! Just who are you really? And how do you know about things like the _sekkisekki rock _and my friends' powers?"

"Geez, you're chock full of questions. Ya wanna save yer sisters 'r not?" Gin countered, leaving the tangerine head speechless. "I thought so."

Ichigo gave a deep sigh. There was no other way of getting out of this one. "Fine, I'll play. But you better explain yourself after."

"I'll play too Ichigo," said Orihime, smiling. "Whatever it is, I can help you as your back-up." The boy said his thanks, smiling as well.

"Fair enough," answered Gin. "Okay, let's begin. We're gonna play a round of tic-tac-toe. I trust y'all already know the basic rules."

Ichigo's face nearly fell. Tic-tac-toe? He expected something more complex.

"If ya win, you and yer friends can leave and forget about this whole thing," he continued. "But if ya lose…tee-hee, I'll just leave that to yer imagination."

Everyone tensed up and gasped.

**~~oOo~~**

From the monitor room, Gin was pressing a hand on his mouth to muffle his laughter at the teens' reactions. Hermes was less than pleased at the little master's toying with them.

"I'd never thought you'd actually resort to taking hostages," he said, looking livid.

"What're ya so mad about? It's just tic-tac-toe," the little master rebutted. "This won't take long, promise."

"You do realize I'll have to report to your mother this…rather _sadistic _behavior." Hermes' glasses had a sharp glint on them when he adjusted them on his face. "There is also the issue of your choice in nicknames for women." Gin swallowed a lump. The majordomo was serious.

He quickly went back to the microphone, and cleared his throat before speaking once again.

"Hello? Are you still there, Chibimaru?" called out Ichigo, who along with everyone else, was wondering why it was taking too long to start.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Hold yer boxers," Gin replied. "We'll each take a turn. Since there are two of ya there, ya'll have ta alternate players whenever yer turn comes up. That means, if for example, Ichigo starts, the next turn will be mine and boobie-girl will have the next one before goin' back ta me." A mild sound of someone yelling "Little Master!" could be heard in the background. "Oh, and by the way, no coachin' from the prisoners. That'd be cheatin'."

Orihime blanched when she her him call her 'boobie-girl'.

"Ugh! Talk about rude. Aren't rich kids supposed to be brought up better than that?" said Tatsuki, fuming. "If he wasn't so much younger than me, I would've given him an uppercut. Son of a millionaire or not, no one talks about Orihime, or any other girl, like that!"

"Okay, ready Ichigo?" Gin asked, ignoring the previous remarks. "I'll start." A large blue X appeared in the center box at the top. Ichigo quickly went and stepped on the box next to it on the left and a red O appeared. Gin then placed another X at the rightmost bottom box. It was Orihime's turn next.

"This doesn't look good," said Uryu, watching the flustered redhead having a hard time deciding where to go. "Without a direct counter, Orihime could only guess her next move."

"Uh…Uuh…" Orihime's eyes darted around the grid. The game had just started and she was already on the verge of a heart attack, due to her fear of losing the game for everyone and landing them into even more trouble.

"Just pick any spot," she heard Ichigo tell her. His voice was calm, though she could tell that he was holding his temper back.

"O-Okay…" Steeling herself, she moved to the center box. Another O appeared. Shortly after, a third X popped directly below Orihime. It didn't look good. One wrong turn and Gin would win. Ichigo knew that there was never a chance for them to win as well, so the next best thing would be a tie. Unfortunately, he would have to jump over a box to counter the two X's at the bottom of the grid.

"You can do it, Ichigo!" Orihime cheered for him. "I know you're a great jumper. You can do this."

Ichigo gave her a smile albeit an uneasy one. "Thanks." He then went to get ready. He took a few steps back and went into a running start. Once he reached the line separating the first and second box, he kicked off from the ground and went flying. Everyone, including those in the monitor room, watched with bated breath, and as if in slow motion.

_Almost…there…_ Ichigo thought as the ground got closer until his foot made contact.

His friends' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in shock.

Gin gave his widest smile.

A red O showed up…in the left middle box. Ichigo's foot missed—the toe of his shoe-clad foot only meeting the line from the opposite side of this target.

_Damn! So close!_

A third X came forth and completed the line at the bottom of the grid, making Gin's win official. A loud buzzing noise echoed in the room signaling 'Game Over'.

"Looks like I win," said Gin in a mirthful voice.

Orihime couldn't help shaking in her shoes, clearly fearful for herself and her friends' fate. Everyone else, including Ichigo was just as scared. All were apprehensive and anxiously waiting for whatever punishment in store for them. "Kurosaki-kun…"

"Wh-What's going to happen to us?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"I can't believe we got beaten by a kid," Uryu stated in disbelief from the cage.

"It's not very surprising, really," said Chad, sounding calm at most, but was probably masking his worry. "He's reincarnated, so he may have carried along some tendencies from his past life."

"That's one way to put it."

Ichigo though disappointed by his loss, immediately recovered from his slump. He was angry, confused, anxious, and on edge at the same time. What started out as an innocent yet rowdy game of chase had turned into something out of a suspense-thriller movie. Looking back, it really had been reckless of him to chase around a kid like Gin and let himself and his friends be led on into this mess—all for a now obsolete supernatural item that was better off hanging on the wall of his room back home.

"Well, Chibimaru? What're you gonna do to us now that you've won?" he called out to Gin. His mind thought of plenty possible ways. And although he was dealing with a kid, who knew what kind of imagination he had to come up with something so nerve-wracking.

When Gin didn't answer thirty seconds later, Ichigo was ready to put out his hair and scratch out his eyes. But then he heard a strange loud sound; like a latch being slid.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Kurosaki-kun," began Orihime, sounding even more worried than before, "I…I think that sound is coming from the—"

A crack appears on the center of the grid they were standing on, stretching from center point and to the farthest ends on each side. And without warning, the floor grid opened downward (like a pair of twin doors installed on the floor rather than the wall). Both Ichigo and Orihime's screams could be heard echoing and fading as they fell to the bottom, much to their other friends' horror.

**~~oOo~~**

System Initializing….

Initialization complete. All processes and components functional.

Subject detected onboard. Identifying…

Identification complete. Subject identified as candidate.

Requesting _reiatsu _sample.

Pending…

Ichigo woke with a grunt moments later with his body sore in some places. He tried to move, but found that he had limited space to go around in. What the heck happened? All he remembered were his friends getting captured and being forced to play tic-tac-toe with that runt, Chibimaru, along with Orihime and ultimately losing; then the grid turned out to be a huge trapdoor and sent both him and her falling. He gasped. How could he nearly forget about her? He wondered where she was and if she was okay. He felt guilty at dragging her and their other friends in this mess. Ichigo the promised to himself to make it up to them when he gets out and this whole mess blows over.

Shaking the grogginess away, he realized that he was sitting down in an awkward manner on a leathery chair and surrounded by several bright lights that lit up in the total darkness around him.

"Where…am I?" he muttered, adjusting himself to be more comfortable. Once his vision adjusted, he found that the bright lights came from various buttons, switches, and hologram window (?) of what looked like a control board in front of him. The largest of the hologram windows hung right before him displaying words.

"Requesting…_reiatsu _sample? What the heck does that mean?" He looked around at his overall surroundings. Wherever this place was, it sure didn't look like any dungeon he's familiar with.

After some self-deliberation a little later, that's when he realized…

"What the hell am I doing inside a cockpit?"

**~~oOo~~**

**OMAKE**

**XENOMECHA COMMAND CENTER**

We go back to the monitor room where Gin and Hermes spent time spying and taunting Ichigo and friends. Hermes is already seated and ready for his cue. Gin isn't around. He must have gone out.

The majordomo clears his throat and sits up straight. "Welcome to the Command Center," he begins. "For today's topic, we will be talking about—"

"My mom!" Gin's voice unexpectedly cried out while said kid pops his face in front of the camera.

Hermes pulls Gin back to stand next to him. "Yes, that's right. We will be talking about the master of Tenguji Castle, Lady Shion Tenguji—Part One."

"Part one? Why not just tell everything? It'll save ya and the audience the trouble," asks Gin.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Little Master," apologized Hermes. "My contract for this segment doesn't allow spoilers. It'll ruin the suspense."

"Aww, too bad." The little master's face falls in disappointment, but quickly recovers and brightens. "Hey, are ya gonna talk about me too?"

Hermes adjusts his glasses. "Um…Maybe some other time." Gin pouts.

"Ya'r no fun," he says. "Whatever, I'm goin' out to eat somethin'." He leaves the room huffing. As soon as the door closes, you ask if he's going to be okay.

"Don't worry about him. He'll forget about it by tomorrow," he answers. "Alright, where was I? Oh yes, Lady Shion." The monitors put together one big picture of Shion.

"Lady Shion Tenguji is the master of Tenguji Castle. She is also the CEO and founder of Tenguji Enterprise Inc.—One of the top and continuously rising companies in Japan and the world. The company deals in many forms of trade in all forms of commodities and life necessities and luxuries including education, travel, and tourism. The company is also one of the best sponsors of schools, museums, observatories, parks, shops, and important events." Images of said structures appear one by one, replacing Shion's.

"Any public infrastructure under the sponsorship or directly owned by the company is marked by an eight-wing crest," he continues while a fancy-looking symbol appear.

"Other than the castle personnel, company employees, and other few trusted groups (which includes myself), not much is known about Lady Shion being the owner of Tenguji Enterprise Inc. due to her flat-out avoidance of public exposure and preference to direct business from home. So whenever there are important meetings scheduled, she always has someone representing her. This representative is also the one who sits in the executive's office because of this." Two pictures: One depicting a business meeting, and an office setting replace the crest. Both pictures seem to have a black silhouette of a person with a question mark on the face.

"With being a corporate and business genius, Lady Shion is also highly profound in the fields of science and technology as evident with the construction of the Reiatsu Xenomecha, which we will cover later on." A short video showing the construction of what seems to be beginnings of a giant robot while being overseen by Shion plays.

"Before becoming CEO, Lady Shion began as a peddler who sold vegetables she planted in a small garden near her shack and fish she managed to catch from the river. Her clients consisted of the townspeople of what was then Karakura Village. With perseverance, determination, wits, and not to mention her blood and sweat, she managed to expand further and gained her very own shop, which will set the foundation for the future enterprise." Hermes then stops to take off and wipe his glasses.

"I will stop there for now. I'm sure you still have loads of questions, but as I have mentioned earlier, I'm under a contract. Further information about Lady Shion will be discussed some other time. Until then, please stay tuned."

**~~oOo~~**

**Wow, this one was incredibly long. The main story plus the Omake spanned a total of around 9000 words! Lol**

**Sorry, if this turned out to be a boring chapter, but the stage had to be set somehow. Anyway, there will be action in the next chapter, that I assure you. **

**Also, did I get Gin's accent right? I was kinda challenging since I never wrote accented dialogue before.**


	3. Advent of the Mecha

**REIATSU XENOMECHA**

**EPISODE THREE: ADVENT OF THE MECHA**

**~~oOo~~**

"What the hell am I doing inside a cockpit?" Ichigo wondered out loud. He tried to look for something that would help him get out, but couldn't find anything that looked familiar. The buttons and switches on the ergonomic control board in front of him seemed to be the logical choice, but he didn't know which one to press. He didn't want to take chances and press one that activated a self-destruct mechanism by accident and blow the roof off…whatever this place was. And as for Orihime, he wondered if she was in the same place as he was. If that was so, then she'll be fine—confused and maybe scared, but overall fine.

He leaned back in his seat and let his body relax. He wondered how his other friends were faring. He hoped that someone had managed to find and get them out of that weird room. There was also Ms. Ochi and the rest of the class. Have they found out they were missing and started looking for them? There was also that giant Hollow he saw on the local news. It was strange that of all the Hollows that stalked around his town, that one _had_ to be the first to be shown on T.V.

_I guess this is what happens to those who don't follow the rules and stay with the class. _He slumped in his seat, very bummed out of his mind. _Can't believe I let myself get carried away like that._

But then, sometimes, there is a tiny ray of hope that comes through at the least expected moment.

"_Mr. Kurosaki! Mr. Kurosaki!" _A voice called from out of nowhere, startling the tangerine-haired boy.

"Huh? Wha—?" Came his reply. "Where…?" He looked around, but couldn't find the source of the voice.

"_Mr. Kurosaki, can you hear me? It's Hermes." _Ichigo's eyes lit up in a both surprise and subtle relief. Finally! There's someone who could help him.

"_Are you alright? Please answer," _came the familiar voice of the majordomo through static noise, _"I'm calling you and Ms. Inoue through intercom transmission. If you're fine and uninjured, please answer."_

Ichigo was unsure of how to respond. He didn't know which buttons could help him.

"_Uh, I'm here." _His heart nearly skipped a beat at the sound of Orihime's voice from another line. _"I'm fine. My head's still kind of hurts though," _she said.

"O-Orihime?"

"_Hm? Kurosaki-kun? Is that you?" _Orihime asked. _"I'm inside something that looks like some sort of control room. Are you in one too?"_

"Um…y-yeah. It's me. I'm okay. And yeah I am, Orihime," answered Ichigo by talking into thin air, raising his volume a little to make sure he was heard as he couldn't find any sign of a microphone to speak into. He was very much relieved at finding that she was unharmed though the fact that she might also be inside a cockpit of some unknown vessel like he was quite a twist.

"_Can you believe this? It almost looks like the cockpits of those giant robots in anime!" _The girl said in glee. Ichigo smiled a little at her enthusiasm—leave it to her to see the brighter side of glum situations from time to time albeit he began to think when she mentioned giant robots.

_It _did _kinda look that way._

"_That's good," _said Hermes, breaking Ichigo's thoughts. _"Listen, I know you both are quite baffled with your current situation at the moment, but we're running out of time."_

"What do you mean?"

"_All of your questions will be answered later as soon as possible, but for now, do you see an orb on your control board?"_

"Orb?"asked Orihime, looking down at spotting a clear sphere she speculated to be twice the size of a tennis ball halfway embedded in the middle of the board. "Yes, I see it."

"_Me too,"_ added Ichigo from the third line.

"_Okay. Now, if you look in front of you, there should be a holo-screen requesting for a sample of your _reiatsu. _All you have to do is touch the orb and pour a little amount into it. You'll see what happens next," _instructed Hermes.

At the mention of _reiatsu, _Ichigo balked.

"W-Wait!" he cried.

"_What is it?" _the majordomo asked.

Before Ichigo could answer, there was a sudden 'wooshing' sound that came from Orihime's line of audio transmission, followed shortly by a loud 'whoop' from said girl.

"_Wow!" _He heard her hoot.

"Orihime! What's going on in there?" he asked, worried. "Are you okay?"

"_Relax, Kurosaki-kun. I'm fine," _she assured him. _"I did what Mr. Hermes said, then the orb glowed an orange light, and it suddenly got brighter in here. I must have booted the system or something like that. I can even see the outside now, but it's far away. I must be in a tunnel of some kind, and the outside's dark so I can't see it very well. Oh, and I got seatbelts!" _

Ichigo didn't know what to say to that.

"_Now, Mr. Kurosaki, it's your turn," _he heard Hermes say, snapping him back to his current predicament.

"I-I can't…I…" He couldn't bring himself to speak the reason. "I don't think I can do this. It's impossible."

"_Listen to me, Mr. Kurosaki. By now, that Hollow has already devoured at least twenty-seven to thirty percent of the entire Sakurabashi District. And I have intelligence that it's headed in the direction of Karakura South Primary School, and the authorities have yet to have that area evacuated." _Hermes' voice was stern and serious. _"From what I gathered, you have two younger sisters attending that school. Can you really afford to sit around and do nothing while the Hollow gets closer to them at a rapid pace?" _At that moment, Ichigo felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on him. His sisters! How could he possibly forget?

"_Mr. Hermes," _Orihime suddenly interjected. _"I know you mean well, but I'm afraid what Kurosaki-kun is trying to say is that he doesn't have—"_

Ichigo cut her off, "Orihime…It's okay."

"_But…Ichigo…"_

"It's okay, I'll do it. This is just like that ball exercise we had at Kuukaku Shiba's at the Soul Society." He touched the ball with his right hand.

_This is going to be even more difficult now that I'm just a human now. _ He scowled in determination. _Nevertheless, I have to protect Karin and Yuzu no matter how it takes. _He closed his eyes and began to concentrate, trying to reach at least a flicker of his _reiatsu _and channel it into the orb. It was harder than he anticipated. Back then as a soul reaper, it was difficult to concentrate his _reiatsu _into the ball since he had too much energy and his ability to suppress and control it was abysmal. Now it was the other way around due to him losing his soul reaper powers. Ichigo concentrated harder, his skin starting to sweat and his hold on the orb tightened to a grip. He searched further, going as far as trying the _jinzen _technique he was taught to look into his mind's eye, but all he could see was darkness. _Come on, come on…_

A while of searching later, in his mind's eye, he saw a tiny spark. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. He immediately began to reach for it, drawing it closer and closer until he could grab it.

Out in the real world, Ichigo's orb began to glow. What little _reiatsu _he was able to give was enough to trigger a reaction. He opened his eyes and watched as the vessel whirred and came to life.

The message on the largest holo-screen then changed before bleeping out of existence: _Reiatsu sample acquired. Xenomecha customization in progress. _

"Xenomecha? Customization?" he wondered aloud just as he heard and felt something zip diagonally in two places across his chest as a pair of seatbelts secured his body to his seat. Then he nearly screamed as he felt a strong rumbling and tumbling force toss him lightly in his seat as parts of the vessel he was in adjusted parts of itself both internally and externally. Then a blinding flash invaded his sight, but faded away quickly as it had come and the motion from bodily adjustments stopped. When Ichigo regain his sight, nothing much had changed, except that 'glass' he thought he was mostly enclosed in was actually a large dome screen monitor. Looking past the parameters that appeared at the corners of the display, he can see everything up to a full 180 degrees up form his left side all the way to his right. From there, he could finally see outside, though it was as Orihime said, dark out. The lights must be off…wherever this was.

He couldn't help but be somewhat bewildered of the change in his surroundings. Could it be possible that what Orihime said earlier was true? _Might I really in some kind of mecha?_

A moment too soon later, both he and Orihime nearly got blinded when the lights were turned on.

"_Sorry about that," _they heard Hermes say on the radio line soon after.

"Geez, at least give us a warning!" Ichigo complained. He blinked his eyes a few times to get rid of the glare. "Hey, where is this place?" he asked after getting his vision back on focus.

From where he sat, it seemed like he was inside a huge tunnel like Orihime described earlier. He could make out the sky from the sole hexagonal exit far away in front. The current lighting seemed to center around Ichigo, for the rest of the tunnel itself was dim. On the floor, he could spot a hint of a long rail stretching from his end toward the outside. At that moment, Ichigo had a hunch about where he was, having watched his share of mecha anime as a little kid. He didn't want to believe what he was seeing at first since he believed such huge humanoid machines only existed in manga and anime, but after rubbing his eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks, he came to realize that it was real.

"_Welcome to the launch bay," _said the majordomo.

"Launch bay?" Ichigo and Orihime both yelped.

"Wait, if that's true, then…don't tell me we're really inside…" Ichigo began to stammer.

"_Mecha robots?" _Orihime finished for him, just as astonished.

A few seconds later, Ichigo nearly got a heart attack due to an excited squeal from the transmission line. _"Ichigo!"_

"What is it? Something wrong?" came the boy's rapid reply.

"_Nothing. It's just that…I can't believe that I'm really going to be the pilot of a giant robot," _she continued. _"Tatsuki and the others won't be able to believe this when I tell them."_

"Huh?"

"_You two, stop acting foolishly!" _Hermes then interrupted. _"Time is of the essence." _ Both teens immediately fell silent and sat in attention for the next set of instructions.

"_Brace yourselves, both of you. I'm not going to beat around the bush, you two are going to have to go out there and fight."_ Time seemed to have stopped for them and their hearts skipped a beat. Fight? Was he serious? They weren't trained to pilot a mecha. Hell, they weren't even trained to drive cars yet. And not to mention they don't how the control boards in front of them work either, and they were being sent out to fight already? Other than that, just what kind of Hollow are they about to face that practically required the use of giant mecha to have any chance of defeating it?

As if sensing their hesitation, Hermes tried to assure them. _"You don't have to worry about anything. Around fifty percent of the controls are directly linked to our main computer in the Command Center and will be managed from there. All you guys need to do is follow whatever we tell you…for now."_

That hadn't made them feel better at all.

"_Alright, get ready now." _After saying those words, Hermes cut the line.

"Wh-What? Already?" Ichigo nearly got bucked out of his seat. From the outside, it could be seen that the mecha he was in stood securely on a rectangular platform. It had lifted up a little bit to become mobile and went along the rail. He found and held on to a pair of control sticks he found on his either side to keep from slipping or falling as he was slowly veered towards the runway up front some ways from the open exit. He stayed quiet for the most part while he was being moved, slowly becoming anxious in his anticipation.

He heard other voices ring through the launch bay, this time coming from what he guessed to be loudspeakers.

"Mountainside launch bay hatch opened; Xenomecha Units Gamma and Delta preparing for takeoff," a female voice echoed.

"All systems functioning normally; Both Souldrive Engines at optimum performance," a male voice followed. By this time, Ichigo's mecha was now directly facing the runway.

"Restrictions on respective catapults lifted; launching in three…" The boy's heart pounded hard in his chest that he could have swore that he was on the brink of a heart attack as the countdown started.

"Two…" His mecha was tilted slightly forward and green arrows rapidly lit up the tunnel all the way to exit.

"One." At the sound of 'one', the combined screams of Ichigo and Orihime echoed in their still open communication lines as they got zoomed like rockets on their respective runways; going at such a speed that their bodies pressed further in the synthetic leather padding of their seat due to the strong g-force.

Two seconds later, they screamed even louder and put their arms in front of themselves as their defensive instinct kicked in when they thought they were going to fall off and plummet once they reach the end—only to find their mecha had kicked off from the platform and went airborne when the main thrusters on their backs activated and shot them skyward. Then not long after, they slowed to a steady flight side by side.

**~~oOo~~**

After leaving the dining hall, Shion made her way through the empty winding halls of her castle in a brisk pace. She took a quick turn into what would appear to any normal person to be a dead-end hallway, but to this woman, it was more than a mere dead-end. A short survey of her surroundings to make sure she wasn't being followed later, she reached to a small painting hanging just above the bust of Leonardo da Vinci and tilted it a little to the left. A hidden door reveals itself on the wall to Shion's left, closing as quickly as it opened the moment she went through.

She arrived in a very large room a little while later. The room was very brightly lit and very high-tech compared to the regality of most of the castle. A number of screens showing different parameters and chunks of information lined the left and right walls along with their control panels right below them. The middle of the room had at least seven to ten computer terminals; arranged in alternating rows of threes and twos and labeled with letters A to J respectively, while the side consoles were labeled with numbers one to four—two on each side of the room. Standing out of them all was a huge monitor that took up the entire back wall. Several people consisting of maids and butlers sat behind and operated their respective terminals and consoles…or at least trying to as they ignored the loud ranting of an angry female high school student sitting on a chair on one side and tied up with rope along with two other boys who were also in the same captive state.

"How could you just send off Ichigo and Orihime into danger like that?" she hollered angrily at the silver-haired majordomo who stood calmly before her. She, along with Chad and Uryu had watched their two friends get launched to battle after being dragged away and tied up after the rather twisted game of tic-tac-toe.

"What the hell is going on around here? I demand an explanation!"

"My, my, aren't we full of vigor?" Shion broke in to the conversation casually as she strode to the front. The three bound teens turned in near shock at seeing the master of the castle standing in front of them, smiling.

"Mrs. Tenguji? Wh-What are you doing here?" stammered Uryu.

"Missus? Ohoho, I'm sorry but you're mistaken," Shion chuckled. "I'm very single." She then began to look around. "Where's Gin? Isn't he supposed to be with you, Hermes?" she asked her majordomo. Before said man could answer, the mentioned boy's voice announced itself.

"I'm right here, momma," he said as he waved to the group from Central Terminal E where he sat.

"Oh good, you're here."

"Hey, you still haven't answered my question!" Tatsuki interjected. "Why the hell are we tied up?"

"My sincerest apologies, but we had to tie you up as a precaution," replied Hermes. "You were refusing to cooperate, especially you, Miss Arisawa." Tatsuki gave him her best glare. "As for explanations, as I have told Mr. Kurosaki and Miss Inoue, I'm afraid will have to wait. We will discuss everything after the Hollow is defeated."

Uryu had a solemn look on his face. "So that monster we saw on T.V. was truly a Hollow?"

He received a nod from the two adults in front of them.

"I don't get it. Aren't spiritual beings like Hollows supposed to be invisible to humans?" asked Chad. "How was it that people were able to see it now?"

"I repeat, questions will be answered later. I'm sure your friends would want answers as well, so it is best that you are all gathered," said Hermes.

"And you don't have to worry about your pretty little heads. We're not going to hurt you or anything," said Shion, beaming.

"You're not?" asked Tatsuki in a mild mixture of bewilderment and confusion.

The older woman simply tittered. "Of course not. Misato wouldn't let me hear the end of it if we did. Plus, I'm not looking forward to a fierce lawsuit any time soon. For now, why don't the three of you sit back and watch? Don't worry about your friends. They're in safe hands."

Clearly having no other choices, the three bound students let themselves relax in their seats.

"Fine, but if anything bad happens to either of them, I'll make you pay," said Tatsuki as a last minute threat before settling down. Shion nodded in acknowledgement then turned to go to the back of the room that was slightly elevated than the front courtesy of four steps of stairs and sat down on an armchair behind a metal chrome desk installed in the upper middle of the elevation.

"Status report," she said in a commanding voice that the teens haven't heard before. From the front, somebody answered.

"Xenomecha Units Gamma and Delta have successfully launched. All systems functioning normally," said a maid who worked on Central Terminal A.

"Pilot heart rate, brain waves, metabolism, blood pressure, and _reiatsu _levels are all stable," continued a butler on Right Console 3. "As per orders, fifty percent of manual control has been linked to the main computer and transferred onto Central Terminals A to E… Also as you have personally ordered, Xenomecha Units Epsilon and Zeta have already been deployed and are currently on hidden standby mode."

"Aww, ya already sent those two out? I wanted ta do tha'," whined a disappointed Gin.

"Good. Everything seems to be in order," Shion muttered and looked further forward to her majordomo who stared back, seemingly expecting something. She nodded in his direction. Taking it as his cue, Hermes opened the intercom once more.

**~~oOo~~**

"Orihime, you okay?"asked Ichigo, who had calmed down a bit. He could still hear his friend panting for air on the other line. A few deep breaths later, Orihime responded that she was fine and that she couldn't believe that she was actually flying in a mecha.

"_I'm curious on what our mechas look like though," she chirped. "Do you think it's possible to look out the window?"_

"_Not possible."_

Both beginning pilots gave loud squeaks at the sudden appearance of the majordomo's face on a small window on screen.

"Gah! Hermes, didn't we have enough surprises already?" Ichigo complained.

"_My sincerest apologies," _Hermes replied. _"Although I only reopened my line to you so I could be able to teach the two of you the basics of being a Xenomecha pilot as you fly along. Also, Ms. Inoue, to answer your question: I'm afraid the cockpit doesn't have any windows you can look out to." _Orihime blushed in embarrassment and quickly apologized for momentarily forgetting where she was, which Hermes hastily forgave her.

"_It is however, possible to zoom in the images on your dome screen. As you might guess, the cockpits are situated in the torso of your mechas. The reason you are able to see the outside is due to the hi-tech cameras installed in the eye sockets of each of your mechas that transmit the images on your screen."_

Hermes then went on to explain that the Xenomechas aren't like the typical ones seen on mass media. Most of the materials used to make each mecha were totally different from the ones the rest of the world are familiar with as they had names neither teens had ever heard before—one of which was Animium, a metal alloy compound found only in places that have an abundance of spiritual energy, that was also dubbed as a 'living metal'. Other things Hermes told them that due to their _reiatsu _signature binding them to their mechas, they might be able to perform some actions by force of will alone, but since they're still new to being pilots, they won't be able to do much yet. So far, Ichigo and Orihime learned to control their mecha's camera functions by will and focusing on a desired part of the current display and are able to select, zoom, and gather analysis on a desired image. With this, they were able to get a glimpse of each other's mecha (mostly due to their curiosity).

By simply wanting to, Ichigo was able to quickly acquire some images of Orhime's mecha that was currently flying by his side several feet away from all angles and had them zoomed by at least forty-five to fifty percent. Orihime had done the same.

Orihime's mecha was a beautiful feminine model that was mostly colored yellowish orange with white accents and spots of cyan. He estimated it to be about forty to fifty feet tall. Its frame was slender and curvy and stood on tip-toes. It had plates of defensive armor on its shoulders, midsection, forearms, legs, and head (which looked based on those helmets worn by _sentai _characters). Upon closer inspection, said _helmet _had a sharp V shaped visor, and accessories on each side (around temple area) that looked suspiciously like flowers. In addition, there was a pair of large wings on its back whose shape seemed strangely familiar.

Ichigo's mecha however, had a black, gray, and white color scheme (which, sad to say, appeared rather dull). It also looked rather skinny and nearly skeletal despite having defensive armor. Orihime thought that it was built for agility. It wasn't as flashy as the girl had thought it would; in fact, it looked a little creepy and rather incomplete. She deduced that it was because of the absence of soul reaperpowers Ichigo once had.

Over the intercom, Hermes announced that they would be landing shortly, and from there he would continue with the 'lesson' on mecha piloting.

**~~oOo~~**

At the site of destruction, the huge Hollow creature continued to be bombarded by various attacks from the soul reapers from the Soul Society. However, none were coming close enough to even make it stagger. Everything they threw at it—close combat, _kidou _spells, _shikai _release, even _bankai _release—simply bounced or dissipated upon contact with the creature's skin.

"What the heck? We're not even making a scratch!" said an irate Ikkaku who had his _bankai _out while dodging an oncoming swat from the Hollow's massive hands as it went around trying to catch them.

"This is definitely not going to be as easy as I previously thought," said Yumichika in agreement. He then looked around to his right where their captain, Kenpachi Zaraki was madly swinging his sword at the Hollow's forearm. He has been doing so for the past hour, but no matter where or how he tried, he couldn't inflict even the tiniest damage. It didn't take long for him to get batted aside. Kenpachi flew back a few feet before regaining his footing on a building rooftop.

"Tch! That thing's skin's way tougher than a brick wall," he said, quite exasperated while remembering his past battle with an Espada back in Hueco Mundo. "And I thought that Espada's skin was tough—this creep's hide beats it tenfold."

From behind the gargantuan Hollow, Captains Hitsugaya, Soi Fon and Kuchiki unleased their _bankai _and let out their most powerful attacks on the Hollow. However, just like their previous attempts, the enemy had proven to be completely impervious.

"Just what does it take to kill it?" Soi Fon asked angrily, her patience wearing thin.

"Impossible. We must have thrown everything we've got and yet, nothing worked," said Hitsugaya who was starting to really get worried.

"It appears that this is going to be harder than we anticipated. However, even if we called for back-up, I honestly doubt that it would make a difference," stated the ever stoic head of the Kuchiki clan.

"Then, what should we do?" asked Hitsugaya. The elder male tried to think of any other options while staring intently at the monster that quickly went back to harassing the members of Squad Eleven. He tried to think of something, anything. He even contemplated on asking the Captain Commander for assistance, but immediately dismissed it. He didn't want to get scolded for not being able to take out one measly Hollow.

Then again, this Hollow was anything _but _measly…

**~~oOo~~**

As the soul reapers continued to fight, they were unaware of two pairs of eyes watching them from different sides of the town district that had become a battlefield.

One of the watchers was fidgeting in his seat, his fingers drumming softly on a control panel on his right side. His face seemed to be permanently set on an angry look that appeared to only get angrier the longer he sat still and watched the futile struggle before him.

"This is stupid! I don't see why we have to be here if we're not even gonna fight," he said in his frustration. "Just look at those soul reapers. You think they'd know that it's completely pointless to keep fighting that thing, but they're still at it!"

There was a brief sound of static before the second watcher's feminine voice replied through a radio transmission. _"I know it's really aggravating since this is also our first mission ever, but we have orders. We are to wait for the other two units we were told about, and until they arrive, we are to stay hidden."_

"That's another problem. I heard those other guys are total rookies without any prior training or piloting skills. It's so pathetic; Hermes really lost it if he's sending out greenhorns!" the first complained. "And is that really even a Hollow? We've been in Hueco Mundo for most of our entire lives, but I've never seen a Hollow _that _huge!"

"_What about Yammy? Didn't he get just as big in his released form?"_ the second watcher asked.

"Well, there was him. But he doesn't really count since he only gets that big when he gets really angry." The second watcher didn't say anything else, and along with the first resumed watching the fight.

"Tch! Now it's just starting to get sad," the first said as he shook his head in disappointment. "Hey butler, can you hear me?" He then shouted through the outgoing transmission. "When are we going to step in and fight? I don't see the point of us being out here if we're just gonna sit on our asses!"

Another scratching noise of static pierced through the air before a voice took over. "_Please be patient, you'll get your chance," _Herme's voice said. _"For now, remain on standby and maintain your cloaking as we get the new recruits acquainted with their mechs. The Hollow they'll be facing is most likely still a juvenile; however, there is a chance that things could get out hand. When it does come to the worst case scenario, you and your companion may step in to intervene."_

"Are saying that you got those rookies come out here just to teach them how to pilot? Don't we have simulators for that?"

"_Sorry. It's sort of a last minute thing." _The first watcher growled, but soon fell silent upon hearing the loud whirring sound of jet propulsions nearby. He looked upwards to the sky and saw two huge mechanical units fly by and land a short distance from the Hollow.

"_That must be them." _He heard the second watcher quip.

The first sighed and leaned back on his cushiony synthetic leather seat, blowing a lock of blue hair form his face while crossing his long muscular arms behind his neck. "This is gonna be one short fight."

**~~oOo~~**

The soul reapers gaped with eyes nearly big as saucers at the sight of two odd giant human shaped machines that seemed to appear suddenly out of nowhere. At that very moment, all fighting had ceased—even the Hollow stopped trying to swat the soul reapers in favor of the new arrivals.

"What the heck…are those?" Captain Hitsugaya asked.

"I think it's what humans call a 'mecha,'" Yumichika replied, earning a look from Ikkaku. "What? I've only seen them on T.V. here back when we stayed over several months ago."

Soi Fon took her turn to ask, "Do you know anything about them?"

"Well, other than the obvious, mecha are essentially war machines run by a human pilot from the inside."

"Are you saying that the humans made and brought these machines out to counter the Hollow?" Byakuya asked. At his statement, Kenpachi scoffed who stood near the sixth captain.

"Sounds like the humans have a deathwish," he said, staring at the two mechas. "So they have those huge new toys, big deal. If we can't even make a dent on the Hollow, what makes them think they can?"

Hitsugaya was deep in thought as the other captains spoke. "I don't think the humans have anything to do with them. This looks more like something Kisuke Urahara would come up with, assuming he somehow knew far ahead."

From their respective cockpits, the two new pilots couldn't believe their eyes at the sight of the Hollow staring right at them. Ichigo and Orihime couldn't help but feel unnerved now that they were face to face with the enemy. Whatever courage the former substitute soul reaper had in the past seemed to have flown out the window as he was now going to face with a Hollow without his powers, and in a giant robot which he had absolutely no clue how to pilot. Orihime, on the other hand, may still have a little chance since she still had hers, but she was just as clueless as he was about running a mecha.

"_Stay calm you two," _Hermes' voice rang. _"We'll be guiding you in this fight. The Hollow you're about to engage is still just a mere juvenile, so it shouldn't be so hard to defeat as long as you follow our instructions." _Ichigo swallowed a lump.

"Okay," he said. From her own cockpit, Orihime responded in kind, looking determined.

The Hollow simply continued to stare at the two mechas as Hermes' spoke to the two pilots, emitting a guttural sound that was quite a cross between a growl and a purr. The soul reapers it had been fighting earlier were now forgotten. It was sizing them up, trying to determine whether to attack or not. But just then, it felt something—a familiar tingling feeling that went under its skin. It was the feel of _reiatsu! _And it's strongly concentrated into those two giant metal things! Wasting no time, the giant Hollow began to move, eyes never straying from its new targets.

"Heads up!" Ikkaku cried out and got in his stance, followed by the others who tensed up as well. But the Hollow simply went past them, earning shocked looks from the soul reapers.

"Hermes, it's coming!" Ichigo cried into the transmission in a panic.

"What do we do?" Orihime asked. But before Hermes could answer, the Hollow disappeared in a blink, only to reappear in the same manner right into Ichigo's mecha. The former soul reaper gave a yell as the creature tackled and sent him crashing to the hard ground and began to pound it.

"ICHIGO!"

* * *

><p><strong>If there's someone out there interested in giving me constructive criticism, it would be appreciated. I've put of writing for a while and I think I might be getting rusty.<strong>

**Also, I'm not very good at describing mecha so I'm afraid you guys'll have to make due with the vague descriptions that I did write and your own imaginations.**

**Next: Ichigo and Orihime both fight the Hollow with help from the castle HQ. Explanations are in order and Hermes passes out summer job application forms as half of the castle staff will be gone on vacation. Ichigo has a vague guess on what the documents imply other than the prospect of a proper occupational experience (and a paycheck). Orihime is excited, but will Ichigo go through with it? Stay tuned.**


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